This research examines the effects of terror management theory (TMT) and athletic performance. TMT states that humans defend themselves against the anxiety stemming from death awareness (mortality salience; MS) by investing in cultural worldviews, which often results in identification with similar others as well as harsh denigration of anyone with opposing views. I sought to investigate whether participants' athletic performance would be affected by mortality salience. Participants included varsity lacrosse players, varsity women soccer players, men soccer players, and a mixed population of undergraduate students. Each participant was asked to complete as many push-ups as they could and then asked to complete a self-esteem survey. They were then exposed to the mortality salience or control and then asked to repeat the push-up test. The goal was to determine if the participants exposed to the MS had a greater number of completed push-ups the second go around.
