Department of Applied Psychology

University of Mumbai
Initial Presentation for the proposed ‘Research Project’ in the Research based course in
MA in Psychology program (CBCS)
Semester IV

Death Anxiety and Religiosity

Jasleen Kaur
Research Supervisor- Dr.
Wilbur Gonsalves
 Introduction
• Death Anxiety and Meaning in Life
• Terror Management Theory
• Role of religiosity
• How can religiosity be studied?
- Multidimensional model of religion by Charles
Glock
- Intrinsic/ Extrinsic Orientation
- Certainty of the belief
 Problem and Hypothesis

Problem- The role of religiosity in buffering death anxiety

• The relationship between meaning in life and death anxiety

would be influenced by religiosity.

• Higher scores on public domain of religiosity scale would

predict ,lower death anxiety scores

• Certainty of belief ( theistic or atheistic) would determine

levels of death anxiety, such that more certain the belief, lesser
death anxiety experienced.
 Method

Sample: 18 years to 45 years, Random Sampling

Survey Method using the following tools :

Death Anxiety Scale (Templer, 1970), internal consistency of .83

Meaning in Life Questionnaire (Steger et al 2005), internal

consistency of .08

 Centrality of Religiosity Scale (Huber et al 2012), internal

consistency is 0.85
 Procedure

Google survey would be circulated within a convenient sample

consisting of demographic details, a mortality salience
condition, Death Anxiety Scale, Centrality of Religiosity Scale
and the Meaning of Life scale.
 Analysis
• Moderational analysis to measure if religion
significantly moderates the relationship
between meaning in life and death anxiety
• Regression analysis to measure if public
domain of religiosity and certainty of belief
predict significantly lower levels of death
anxiety.
 Application

• Past researches have mixed results

• Understanding the constructs in a younger sample
• Understanding the importance of belief system in
individuals
 References
• Emmons, R. A. Religion in the psychology of
personality: An Introduction. Journal of Personality,
67, 873 – 888, 1999
• Donald I. Templer (1970) The Construction and
Validation of a Death Anxiety Scale, The Journal of
General Psychology
• Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M.
(2006). The Meaning in Life Questionnaire:
Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in
life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53, 80-93.