Question

Question:

for the following article please specify the following:

1. What is/are independent variable(s)? (Specify the levels)
2. What is/are dependent variable(s)? (List all dependent variables authors measured)

Of Blood and Death: A Test of Dual- Existential Systems in the Context of Prosocial Intentions

Blood donation is an important expression of prosocial behavior in modern society. The extent to which thinking about death increases intentions to donate blood is the focus of the experiment reported in this article. The dual-existential-systems model (Cozzolino, 2006) explores the social-psychological outcomes of contemplating mortality. Drawing on evidence from dual-process models (Deutsch & Strack, 2006) and particularly on the differentiation between abstract and specific cognitive processes (Marsolek, 1999), Cozzolino (2006) posited that thoughts about death activate two distinct systems: the abstract existential system and the specific existential system. As the names suggest, the former system is activated by abstract thoughts about death, and the latter by specific and individuated thoughts (i.e., focusing on the circumstances surrounding death: details of how, when, and where). These two systems induce different cognitive, motivational, and behavioral outcomes.

The proposal for the abstract existential system is based on terror management theory (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon, 1986), which claims that desire for survival conflicts with awareness of death, creating the potential for overwhelming terror. To defend against this terror, individuals endorse and adhere to cultural worldviews (i.e., social beliefs or norms), which provide a sense of meaning, enhance self esteem, and buffer death anxiety. Research supporting this theory has relied on mortality-salience (MS) manipulations (e.g., asking participants to respond to two open-ended questions about death). This research has demonstrated that such exposure to abstract, "subtle reminders of death" (Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004, p. 439) motivates defensiveness and adherence to salient social norms (Gailliot, Stillman, Schmeichel, Maner, & Plant, 2008). Mortality awareness is far from subtle or abstract, however, for individuals who are actually facing life-threatening situations and are acutely aware of how and when they may die. Research on posttraumatic growth (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004) and near death experiences (Ring, 1984) has demonstrated that specific and individuated awareness of mortality can generate growth oriented processes that involve strengthening the self and reprioritizing worldviews. Indeed, Cozzolino Staples, Meyers, and Samboceti (2004) found that a death-reflection (DR) manipulation, in which participants first imagined dying in an apartment fire and then responded to four open-ended questions related to this scenario (see the Supplemental Material available online), had such effects. Content analyses revealed that participants wrote more about individuated experiences of the self, and less about abstract worldviews, after the DR manipulation than after an MS manipulation (Cozzolino et al., 2004).

Additionally, participants in DR conditions have demonstrated reduced greed, heightened spirituality, and enhanced gratitude compared with participants in MS conditions (Cozzolino et al., 2004; Frias, Watkins, Webber, & Froh, 2011). In other studies, participants who experienced an MS manipulation donated more money to charities than did control participants (Hirschberger, Ein-Dor, & Almakias, 2008; Jonas, Schimel, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2002). However, because MS generates an aversion to physicality (Goldenberg, 2005), participants in the MS condition donated less to organ donation charities than did control participants (Hirschberger et al., 2008). Despite this aversion, we predicted that participants who experienced an MS manipulation would intend to donate blood when the need was high, to satisfy desires to adhere to cultural expectations. In contrast, a previous study of greed (Cozzolino et al., 2004) demonstrated that participants in a DR condition evidenced less selfishness than participants in an MS condition regardless of how much they endorsed culturally prescribed values of pursuing wealth. Thus, we predicted that a DR manipulation would increase intentions to donate blood irrespective of perceived need for blood.

Method

Ninety individuals (31 male, 59 female; ages 17-76 years, M = 41.90, SD = 15.15) were recruited in a British town center and randomly assigned to a DR, MS, or control condition.

Participants in the DR condition imagined the fire scenario described earlier and then answered four open-ended questions related to this experience. Participants in the MS condition answered two open-ended questions about death, whereas participants in the control condition answered two open-ended questions about a visit to the dentist. After a standard delay task, participants read one of two articles purportedly from the BBC News. One article reported that blood donations were "at record highs," and thus the need for blood was low; the second article reported that donations were "at record lows," and thus the need was high. Participants were then offered a pamphlet guaranteeing fast registration at a local center seeking donations that day. They were told that pamphlets were in short supply, and to take one only if they actually intended to donate. Thus, the dependent measure, which represented intentions to donate blood, was binary (pamphlet taken or refused). (For additional methodological details on the three conditions and the delay task, see the Supplemental Material.)

Results

Conducting a logistic regression, we coded "took pamphlet" as 1 (n = 45) and "refused pamphlet" as 0 (n = 45) and dummy coded the condition variable, comparing the MS and DR conditions in the first variable (MS1) and the MS and control conditions in the second (MS2). Controlling for participants' past blood-donation behavior, we regressed the pamphlet variable onto MS1, MS2, article (high vs. low need for blood), and the interactions. This analysis revealed significant interactions (see Fig. 1) between article and MS1 (b = 2.51, p < .05, odds ratio = 12.29) and between article and MS2 (b = 2.97, p < .05, odds ratio = 19.55). Probing each level of the moderator (Hayes & Matthes, 2009) revealed that participants in the MS and DR conditions did not differ in intentions to donate blood when the need for blood was high (p = .58). However, when the need was low, participants in the DR condition demonstrated greater intentions to donate than did participants in the MS condition (b = 2.94, p < .01). Participants in the MS condition demonstrated greater intentions to donate blood compared with control participants only when the need was high (b =2.78, p < .05). A third dummy variable comparing the control and DR conditions revealed only an effect of condition, as participants in the DR condition expressed greater intentions to donate blood compared with control participants regardless of social need (b = 3.20, p < .01, odds ratio = 24.52).

Discussion

Our results are consistent with research demonstrating that MS generates an aversion to bodily fluids (Goldenberg et al., 2001) and organ donation (Hirschberger et al., 2008), as participants in the MS condition evidenced little intention to donate blood when the social need was low. Despite this aversion, participants in this condition showed increased intentions to donate blood when the sociocultural value of the behavior was salient (Gailliot et al., 2008). Although we did not include a nonphysicality condition, MS has been shown to increase prosociality when the body is not salient (Hirschberger et al., 2008); thus, the effect of need on intentions to donate blood in the MS condition strongly suggests that the physicality of blood donation played a key role in shaping the behavior of participants in this condition. In contrast, contemplating mortality in a specific and individuated manner (DR) heightened participants' intentions to donate blood regardless of the need for blood. Of course, it is unlikely that DR manipulations enhance prosociality unconditionally; for example, lower levels of prosociality among participants who experience a DR manipulation might be seen when the value of the behavior is not linked to a specific outcome (e.g., broad donation appeals). Although we do not know if our participants actually donated blood, our study demonstrates that thinking about death can increase prosocial intentions, especially when the expectation of helping is emphasized via broad social and cultural appeals (e.g., in the media).

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared that they had no conflicts of interest with respect to their authorship or the publication of this article.

Supplemental Material

Additional supporting information may be found at http://pss .sagepub.com/content/by/supplemental-data

Answer 1

Independent variable: Thinking about death.
Levels: Mortality-salience condition, Death-reflection condition, and Control condition.

Dependent variable: Blood donation intent.