The terror management theory observes and explains the results of the human awareness of mortality and how human beings live to manage the terror of death. The theory states that humans are uniquely conscious of their mortality. They yearn to live and have meaning, but are terrified by the knowledge of inevitable death. The anxiety of death and attempts to deny it form the basic human motivation. According to the terror management theory, this motivation leads humans to two main solutions to manage the subconscious terror of mortality. More broadly, culture worldviews allow us to be a part of a system that will outlive us, and by participating in a cultural belief system and adhering to its standards, we become heroes that tag on to the system’s
