ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Terror management theory (TMT) works to predict and explain how individuals, and describes the first responders and emergency personnel in particular, are able to compartmentalize the potential of death and still carry on the task set forth. While existing literature and research have been mostly focused on the victims of traumatic events, since the terror attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, there has been a dramatic increase in resources being expended on public safety resources and personnel. The contributions to self-esteem and cultural worldview as put forth by TMT could serve as an important explanatory element as to the role that self-efficacy plays in the motivation of first responders behavior. The mass media, social reverence, and hero status that society often affords to first responders are all influences that many in these roles attribute to their decision to pursue such careers.
