ABSTRACT
One clear pattern that arises from the data on gender and terror management theory (TMT) seems to be that death defenses frequently involve thoughts or behavior based on gender stereotypes and traditional beliefs about gender. Stereotypical thoughts and behavior, on the part of men and women in mortality-salience conditions, contribute to ideology that is hegemonic and limiting for both genders. Walsh and Smith sought to determine whether American college-aged women would be influenced by gender norms of inclusiveness or general cultural norms of uniqueness following mortality-salience induction when primed with either gender identity or self-identity. Researchers possess demographic data that allow them to cleanly divide male and female participants into distinct categories for comparison, making gender the most commonly analyzed moderator in mortality-salience studies. it findings continue to echo those described in Burke's meta-analysis with an assortment of gender differences, mixed results, and no differences among men and women in mortality-salience conditions.
