Embodied Terror Management: Interpersonal Touch Alleviates Existential Concerns among Individuals with Low Self-Esteem

Abstract

Individuals with low (rather than high) self-esteem often struggle with existential concerns. The present research examined whether these existential concerns may be alleviated by seemingly trivial experiences of (simulated) interpersonal touch. A brief touch on the shoulder by a female experimenter led individuals with low self-esteem to experience less death anxiety (Study 1) and more social connectedness after a death reminder (Study 2).

Reminding individuals with low self-esteem of death increased their desire for touch, as indicated by higher value estimates of a teddy bear, a toy animal that simulates interpersonal touch (Study 3). Finally, holding a teddy bear (versus a cardboard box) led individuals with low self-esteem to respond to a death reminder with less defensive ethnocentrism (Study 4). Individuals with high self-esteem were unaffected by touch (Studies 1-4).

These findings highlight the existential significance of embodied touch experiences, particularly for individuals with low self-esteem. These data are referenced by: Tjew-A-Sin, M, Schneider, I.K. and Koole, S.L. 2015. Data from Paper ‘Embodied Terror Management: Interpersonal Touch Alleviates Existential Concerns among Individuals with Low Self-esteem’.

Journal of Open Psychology Data 3(1):e2, DOI: dx.doi.org/10.5334/jopd.ah Includes the datasets (seperate for each of the four studies) in .sav and .csv as well as syntax (for SPSS) for the main analyses. The research paper that resulted from these datasets is also included.