Somatic Awareness And Body Image Theory

With the increased understanding of Terror Management, Somatic Awareness, and Body Image Theories; there appears to be someare specific interactions between these theories that should be explored and used to bolster this knowledge and shed new light into aspects of these models that may not have been discovered as of yet. According to Becker and Terror Management Theory (TMT), our mortality and self-esteem are the key motivators in life, which begs the question, what if individuals had higher or lower awareness of their bodies, or Somatic awareness? Would this different awareness cause a shift in mortality salience within these different individuals? Would one individual have more or less defense toward mortality salience if they have higher
or lower self-esteem? This review will delve into what possible interactions can be derived from the intermingling of these theories and the relevant empirical evidence that has been gathered.
Terror Management Theory
Terror Management Theory provides an empirical paradigm for views that Ernest Becker proposed (e.g., 1973) (Goldenberg, Heflick, & Cooper, 2008). TMT gives us the understanding that although individuals are programed to strive for life and survival, humans are also the only sentient beings that know that that fight is futile and will eventually be lost. TMT theorizes that human beings use these same reasoning aptitudes that made them aware of this juxtaposition to develop methods of handling the impending terror. Specifically, people are posited to defend against mortality concerns with symbolic representation of the world (i.e., cultural worldviews) and the self (i.e., self-esteem derived from living up to standards of one’s cultural worldview).