Personal Constructs, Threat and Attitudes toward Death

Abstract

The present study introduced a personal construct approach to the assessment of threat of death. Two experiments were reported in which the relationship of this measure, referred to as the Threat Index, to a number of self-report variables, the Lester Fear of Death Scale, and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale was investigated. A total of 112 college students participated in the experiments which demonstrated a significant relationship between the Threat Index, self-reported fear of death, conceivability of personal mortality, and the Lester Scale. No significant relationship was found between the Threat Index and belief in afterlife, frequency of thoughts about death or suicide, or the Templer Scale. The possible advantages of the Threat Index procedure were discussed in terms of its relationship with the other measures of death concern, the various self-report variables, and previous criticisms of death concern assessment techniques.