This Is AuburnElectronic Theses and Dissertations

Mortality Salience and Dimensions of Disabilities

Date

2010-08-05

Author

Kongable, Elizabeth

Type of Degree

thesis

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate the link between dimensions of disabilities and mortality salience, operationalized as closeness to death. Towards this end, 211 undergraduate students responded to a series of surveys regarding the perceived closeness to death and dimension of a variety of disabilities. The dimensions utilized were a combination of Stone and Colella’s (1996) theoretically suggested dimensions (course, peril, aesthetic, responsibility, concealability, disruptiveness) and Thomas’ (2001) empirically derived dimensions (risk, response, overtness), resulting in nine total dimensions. Policy capturing analyses demonstrated that some dimensions were predictive of groups of disabilities (i.e. peril was predicative of mental disabilities). Implications for organizational interventions and future research are considered.