This pre-registered work was designed to replicate and extend previous research finding that autonomy is associated with greater extent of belief in symbolic immortality (feeling that some aspect of an individual will endure and/or be remembered long after death). Study 1 (n = 1185) replicated this prior work, finding that self-reported autonomy predicted extent of belief in symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between autonomy and meaning in life. Study 2 (n = 117) provided an experimental extension of Study 1, finding that reading about an individual with an autonomous (vs. controlled) life increased perceptions of that individual’s symbolic immortality, which mediated the relationship between reading about the autonomous life and perceptions of the individual’s satisfaction with life. Study 3 (n = 175) replicated the results of Study 2 and also showed that the extent to which people viewed the target individual as feeling autonomous predicted perceptions of that individual’s symbolic immortality even after controlling for perceived self-esteem.

这项预先注册的工作旨在复制和扩展先前的研究发现，即自主性与更大程度地相信象征性的不朽有关（感觉个人的某些方面会在死后很长时间内持续存在和/或被记住）。研究 1 ( n  = 1185) 复制了这项先前的工作，发现自我报告的自主性预测了对象征性不朽的信仰程度，这调节了自主性与生活意义之间的关系。研究 2 ( n = 117）提供了研究 1 的实验扩展，发现阅读关于具有自主（与受控）生活的个人的阅读增加了对该个人象征性不朽的感知，这调节了阅读自主生活与个人满意度感知之间的关系与生活。研究 3 ( n  = 175) 复制了研究 2 的结果，并且还表明，即使在控制了感知自尊之后，人们认为目标个体感觉自主的程度也预测了对该个体象征性不朽的感知。