The Fear of Personal Death and the Willingness to Commit to Organ Donation

Tehila Kogut, Andrea Pittarello, Paul Slovic

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

In three studies, with samples from different countries (the United States and Israel) and religions (Christians and Jews), we found that individual levels of fear of death significantly predicted lower willingness to register as organ donors (Studies 1 and 2). Moreover, after being asked about their organ donation status (i.e., whether they are registered as donors), fear of death significantly increased among unregistered people. This did not occur among registered people, who had already faced the decision to become donors in the past (Study 2). Finally, providing non-registered (non-religious) people with a defense strategy to manage their fear of death increased their willingness to sign an organ donation commitment, partially by increasing their feelings of hopefulness. The implications of these findings for increasing organ donation registration are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)630-638
Number of pages9
JournalSocial Psychological and Personality Science
Volume15
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2024

Keywords

  • fear of death
  • organ donation
  • terror management

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Clinical Psychology

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