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statement that strongly conflicted with their own political beliefs, whereas the other half read an essay in which the
other person’s views supported their own (liberal or conservative) beliefs.
At this point the participants moved on to what they thought was a completely separate study in which they were to be
tasting and giving their impression of some foods. Furthermore, they were told that it was necessary for the
participants in the research to administer the food samples to each other. At this point, the participants found out that
the food they were going to be sampling was spicy hot sauce and that they were going to be administering the sauce to
the very person whose essay they had just read. In addition, the participants read some information about the other
person that indicated that he very much disliked eating spicy food. Participants were given a taste of the hot sauce (it
was really hot!) and then instructed to place a quantity of it into a cup for the other person to sample. Furthermore,
they were told that the other person would have to eat all the sauce.
As you can see in Figure 11.10 "Aggression as a Function of Mortality Salience and Provocation", McGregor et al.
found that the participants who had not been reminded of their own death, even if they had been insulted by the
partner, did not retaliate by giving him a lot of hot sauce to eat. On the other hand, the participants who were both
provoked by the other person and who had also been reminded of their own death administered significantly more
hot sauce than did the participants in the other three conditions. McGregor et al. (1998) argued that thinking about
one’s own death creates a strong concern with maintaining one’s one cherished worldviews (in this case our political
beliefs). When we are concerned about dying we become more motivated to defend these important beliefs from the
challenges made by others, in this case by aggressing through the hot sauce.
Figure 11.10Aggression as a Function of Mortality Salience and Provocation