Abstract Terror management theory claims the quintessential indicator of cultural adherence is human self-esteem, and self-esteem is vital to suppressing death-thoughts into the unconscious to buffer against existential fear. Guilt—an emotional response to cultural-based rule violations—should therefore be an important motivation for self-forgiveness. In four studies, mortality salience, death-thought accessibility, and self-forgiveness were negligibly related, and offense severity, conciliatory behaviors, perceived forgiveness, and effort provided negligible moderation. In Study 1, results did not support the initial interactional-moderated-mediation model. In three follow-up studies, experimental-causal-chain analyses had unsupportive findings. I provide implications for theory and research.

中文翻译：

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一尘不染心灵的永恒阳光？死亡显着性、死亡思想可及性和自我宽恕

摘要 恐怖管理理论声称文化依从性的典型指标是人类的自尊，而自尊对于将死亡思想抑制到无意识中以缓冲存在恐惧至关重要。因此，内疚——对基于文化的违反规则的一种情绪反应——应该是自我宽恕的重要动机。在四项研究中，死亡显着性、死亡思想可及性和自我宽恕的相关性可以忽略不计，而犯罪严重程度、和解行为、感知宽恕和努力提供的适度性可以忽略不计。在研究 1 中，结果不支持初始交互调节调解模型。在三项后续研究中，实验因果链分析得出了不支持的结果。我提供理论和研究的启示。