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Lumifer comments on Open Thread Feb 29 - March 6, 2016 - Less Wrong Discussion

4 Post author: Elo 28 February 2016 10:11PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 01 March 2016 05:47:23PM 4 points [-]

What non-trivial falsifiable assertions (or, better yet, predictions) does this theory make?

Comment author: argella42 01 March 2016 10:18:41PM 2 points [-]

The major falsifiable prediction is that reminding people of their own mortality will cause them to increase the strength of their psychological terror defense mechanisms, which may include culture, religion, or social ties. Here is a literature review of the subject from 2010. According to the review, the theory hasn't been falsified:

"MS [mortality salience, i.e. death reminders] yielded moderate effects (r=0.35) on a range of worldview- and self-esteem-related dependent variables"

Comment author: Coacher 02 March 2016 09:50:21AM 0 points [-]

Can it predict something real/measurable?