Terror, Terror Management, and Threats to Existence

Terror Management Theory, based on Ernest Becker&s;s Denial of Death , explains how cultural symbols of both literal and symbolic immortality help mitigate the fear of unpleasant realities. Human activity is driven largely by unconscious efforts to deny and transcend death. We build character and culture in order to shield ourselves from the devastating awareness of our underlying helplessness and the terror of our inevitable death. Beyond any particular psychopathology, human beings must cope with the terror of the finiteness of life. What does it mean to be human? What is human nature? In theater, the masks are the dramatis personae , what is shown to the audience (behind which there is a more private self.)