Death Anxiety, Depression and Anxiety: An Experimental Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of death anxiety as a transdiagnostic factor in psychopathology. In this particular study, the investigators will examine whether increases in death anxiety - brought about by increasing the salience of death by use of a mortality salience prime lead to increases in levels of depression and anxiety. Participants will provide their informed consent and will proceed to complete the measures of the study (pretest). Eligible participants will be randomly allocated to either the mortality salience group (experimental group), or the dental pain group (the control group). Participants will be blind to group allocation. Two weeks after completing the pretest measures, the participants will come to the lab and undergo the experimental tasks, depending on the condition that they have been allocated to. Experimental group: participants will undergo a pen-and-paper writing task where they will be asked to answer two questions 1. Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of your own death arouses in you. 2. Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think will happen to you physically as you die and once you are physically dead. Control group: participants will undergo a pen-and-paper writing task where they will be asked to answer two questions 1. Please briefly describe the emotions that the thought of dental pain arouses in you. 2. Jot down, as specifically as you can, what you think happens to you physically as you experience dental pain and once you have physically experienced dental pain. After the prime, participants will complete a distractor task, during which they will be asked to read a short, emotionally neutral text - a bogus scientific article, estimated to be a 5 minute read - and answer questions based on this text. Participants will be told that this task is done in order to assess text comprehension abilities. After completing the distractor task, participants will complete the study measures the second time (posttest). Upon study completion, all participants will be debriefed in the lab, and the real purpose of the study will be explained to them.