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Openness to experience predicts intrinsic value shifts after deliberating one's own death.

Mike PrenticeTim KasserKennon M Sheldon
Published in: Death studies (2017)
Individual differences that might moderate processes of value shifting during and after deliberating one's own death remain largely unexplored. Two studies measured participants' openness and relative intrinsic-to-extrinsic value orientation (RIEVO) before randomly assigning them to conditions in which they wrote about their own death or dental pain for 6 days, after which RIEVO was assessed again up to 12 days later. When participants confronted thoughts about their own death over a sustained period, high openness to experience helped them shift toward intrinsic values. Implications for understanding openness' role in value reorientation from existential deliberation processes are discussed.
Keyphrases
  • chronic pain
  • pain management
  • neuropathic pain
  • spinal cord injury
  • spinal cord