Uncovering an existential barrier to breast self-exam behavior

Abstract

The present research applies an analysis derived from terror management theory to the health domain of breast examination, and in doing so uncovers previously unrecognized factors that may contribute to women's reluctance to perform breast self-examinations (BSEs). In Study 1, when concerns about mortality were primed, reminders of human beings' physical nature (i.e., creatureliness) reduced intentions to conduct BSEs compared to reminders of humans' uniqueness. In Study 2, women conducted shorter exams on a breast model (an experience found to increase death-thought accessibility) when creatureliness was primed compared to a uniqueness and no essay condition. In Study 3, after a creatureliness prime, women performed shorter BSEs when a placebo did not provide an alternative explanation for their discomfort compared to when it did. Advances for theory and breast self-exam promotion are discussed."The body, then, is one's animal fate that has to be struggled against … the creatureliness is the terror" Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death, 1973, pp. 44, 87) Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today (American

Existential Threat or Dissociative Response? Examining Defensive Avoidance of Point-of-Care Testing Devices Through a Terror Management Theory Framework

“…A growing body of terror management theory (TMT) research has suggested that people often make risky health decisions following mortality reminders in order to avoid existential anxiety (Arndt, Cook, Goldenberg, & Cox, 2007;Goldenberg, Arndt, Hart, & Routledge, 2008;Goldenberg, Routledge, & Arndt, 2009;Hirschberger, Florian, Mikulincer, Goldenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2002;Taubman-Ben-Ari, 2004;Taubman-Ben-Ari & Findler, 2003). In contrast to this emerging research, the current study demonstrated that mortality reminders may not lead to risky decisions regarding certain forms of health threat detection behaviors.…”

Looking away from death: Defensive attention as a form of terror management

“…In support of this claim, research has shown that under MS conditions the physical aspects of sex (in contrast to the romantic aspects) become aversive after participants read an essay that emphasizes the similarities between humans and animals (Goldenberg, Cox, Pyszczynski, Greenberg, & Solomon, 2002); physical sensations, from breast exams (Goldenberg, Arndt, Hart, & Routledge, 2008) to normally pleasant foot massages are avoided and disliked; animal and bodily products are deemed more disgusting (Goldenberg et al, 2001); and even breast-feeding is treated negatively (Cox et al, 2007).…”

On the Unique Psychological Import of the Human Awareness of Mortality: Theme and Variations

“…Increases in death-thought accessibility have been documented in response to thoughts regarding separation from a loved one or the break-up of an important romantic relationship (Mikulincer et al, 2003), negative interactions with attachment figures , threats to justice, in which bad things happen to good rather than bad people (Hirschberger, Florian, & Mikulincer, 2005;Landau et al, 2004), the physical aspects of sex when not associated with love (Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, McCoy, Greenberg, & Solomon, 1999), doing a breast self-examination on a breast model (Goldenberg, Arndt, Routledge, & Hart, 2006), viewing pictures of or simply answering questions about disgust-eliciting stimuli (Cox, Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, et al, in press), and thinking about breast-feeding in public (Cox, Goldenberg, Arndt, et al, 2007). More recently, Schimel, Hayes, Williams, and Jahrig (in press) have shown that (a) threats to the Canadian worldview increase death-thought accessibility among Canadians, and proevolution arguments increase death thought accessibility among creationists on both wordstem completion and lexical decision measures; (b) these effects are eliminated when the threat can be easily dismissed; (c) these increases in death-thought accessibility were independent of the arousal of both anxiety and anger; and (d) these increases did not extend to increases in the accessibility of other negative and neutral words.…”