Abstract
We investigated whether (a) people positively reevaluate the characters of recently dead others and (b) supernatural primes concerning an ambient dead agent serve to curb selfish intentions. In Study 1, participants made trait attributions to three strangers depicted in photographs; one week later, they returned to do the same but were informed that one of the strangers had died over the weekend. Participants rated the decedent target more favorably after learning of his death whereas ratings for the control targets remained unchanged between sessions. This effect was especially pronounced for traits dealing with the decedent’s prosocial tendencies (e.g., ethical, kind). In Study 2, a content analysis of obituaries revealed a similar emphasis on decedents’ prosocial attributes over other personality dimensions (e.g., achievement-relatedness, social skills). Finally, in Study 3, participants who were told of an alleged ghost in the laboratory were less likely to cheat on a competitive task than those who did not receive this supernatural prime. The findings are interpreted as evidence suggestive of adaptive design.
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Jesse M. Bering is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Arkansas and is a developmental and comparative psychologist by training. His research bridges classic existential psychology and empirical cognitive science, with a special focus on human representations of death and meaning.
Katrina McLeod is a second-year graduate student in Experimental Psychology at the University of Arkansas. Her master’s thesis is on the cognitive mechanisms underlying people’s implicit and explicit beliefs about the minds of dead agents.
Todd K. Shackelford received his Ph.D. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Austin in 1997. He is currently Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida Atlantic University, and Chair of the Evolutionary Psychology Area. His current research interests include conflict between the sexes, especially sexual conflict.
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Bering, J.M., McLeod, K. & Shackelford, T.K. Reasoning about dead agents reveals possible adaptive trends. Hum Nat 16, 360–381 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1015-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-005-1015-2