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Potential Implications and Applications of Terror Management Theory for Library and Information Science

  • Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
  • 2020, 54(4), pp.317-349
  • DOI : 10.4275/KSLIS.2020.54.4.317
  • Publisher : 한국문헌정보학회
  • Research Area : Interdisciplinary Studies > Library and Information Science
  • Received : October 29, 2020
  • Accepted : November 14, 2020
  • Published : November 30, 2020

Jonathan Michael Hollister 1 Lee, Jisue 2 Aaron J. Elkins 3 Don Latham 4

1부산대학교
2전남대학교
3Texas Woman’s University
4Florida State University

Excellent Accredited

ABSTRACT

Mental health experts warn the combination of overwhelming amounts of information, economic instability, political discontent, social injustice, and the high infection and death rates of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are negatively impacting mental health in ways that may worsen the pandemic and intensify our primal fear of death. Terror Management Theory (TMT) argues that self-esteem and cultural worldviews serve as defenses against the terror of our own mortality. This theory anchor paper introduces TMT to Library and Information Science (LIS) via a selected literature review on TMT’s use in the field of Psychology and an extensive discussion on the conceptual connections to LIS supported with empirical research from related disciplines and contexts. The implications, applications, and usefulness of TMT for LIS research, education, and practice are discussed in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and other contexts, and a research agenda is proposed.

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