Taking a shot in "terror": a pair of basketball studies gives credence to terror management theory.

• Author: Blue, Alexis
• Position: Athletic Arena

It is not the locker room pep talk you would expect, but research from the University of Arizona suggests that athletes might perform better when reminded of something a bit grim: their impending death. In a pair of studies published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, basketball-playing participants scored more points after being presented with death-related prompts, either direct questions about their own mortality or a more subtle, visual reminder of death. Researchers indicate the improved performance is the result of a subconscious effort to boost self-esteem, which is a protective buffer against fear of death, according to psychology's Terror Management Theory.

'Terror Management Theory talks about striving for self-esteem and why we want to accomplish things in our lives and be successful," says psychology doctoral student Uri Lifshin, co-lead investigator of the research. "Everybody has their own thing in which they invest that is their legacy and symbolic immortality."

The reason people do not live in constant fear of their inevitable death is because they have this system to help them deal with it, Lifshin explains. 'Your subconscious tries to find ways to defeat death, to make death not a problem, and the solution is self-esteem, which gives you a feeling that you're part of something bigger, that you have a chance for immortality, that you have meaning, that you're not just a sack of meat."

Participants in the studies were male college students who indicated that they enjoy playing basketball and care about their performance in the sport. None of them played for a formal college basketball team. "Our idea was that the study effect should only work for people who are motivated to perform well in sports. For individuals that derive less self-esteem from sport, whether they win or lose shouldn't matter as much," notes doctoral student Colin Zestcott, the other lead investigator.

In the first study, 31 participants played a pair of one-on-one basketball games with Zestcott, who posed as another study participant. In between the two games, which lasted about seven minutes each, participants randomly were assigned questionnaires to complete. Some participants received packets that included prompts about death: "Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you," and, "Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you as you physically die and once you are...