Madison Sarlo, undergraduate research on political unity
Madison Sarlo is an undergraduate at James Madison University, pursuing a double-major in Psychology and Biology, with a concentration in Neuroscience and minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. She is a research assistant with the Terror Management Lab, studying the effects of death awareness on various aspects of human behavior and experience. After she graduates in May 2022, she hopes to pursue a graduate degree in neuroscience. Madison is a member of Psi Chi and Phi Beta Kappa honor societies.
Madison on the web: LinkedIn
By Kenneth Vail, Cleveland State University. Feb 17, 2021.
ISSEP: How did you first become aware of and interested in existentialism and existential psychology?
Madison Sarlo: In my sophomore (2nd) year, here at James Madison University, I really enjoyed taking my preliminary research courses. So, one of my professors recommended that I try to join one of the psychology research labs. The one that stood out the most, to me, was the terror management lab run by Dr. Lindsey Harvell-Bowman. At the time, they were studying the relationship between death anxiety and suicidal ideation. I thought that was so fascinating. On the one hand, we try to minimize death anxiety by suppressing death thoughts; on the other hand, people who experienced suicidal ideation are actively engaging with the idea of death. It was really heavy stuff. But it also was really, really interesting. So, I reached out to Dr. Harvell-Bowman, interviewed and got accepted into her lab, and it just grew from there!
ISSEP: As an undergraduate researcher, your work focused on death awareness and political unity in America. Can you tell us more about your research on the topic?
Madison Sarlo: Yes, my undergraduate senior thesis explored terror management theory and political dynamics in America. One of the core tenets of terror management theory is the idea that people minimize their awareness of death—the awareness of our impermanence—by investing in cultural worldviews that offer at least some sense of permanence. It might be religious with the promise of afterlife, or political with the promise of creating a better future. And research studies have found that, compared to control conditions, increasing mortality salience can cause people to more strongly defend their cultural worldviews.
The cultural context is super important, because terror management theory is a culturally-sensitive theory. It does predict that death awareness will cause stronger worldview defense, but that simply means defending and upholding one’s salient cultural system of beliefs, values, and standards.
Sometimes the most salient value is conservative; sometimes it’s liberal; and sometimes it’s the overarching American identity itself.
Sometimes the most salient American cultural values are conservative ideals, like traditional religious beliefs, or family structures, or individualism. Sometimes the most salient American values are liberal ideals, like being a welcoming and tolerant nation of immigrants. Prior research has found that when conservative values are salient in the cultural moment, death awareness motivates people to uphold conservative policies; and when liberal values are salient, death awareness motivates people to uphold liberal policies. Those sorts of prior findings might suggest that death awareness would drive conservatives and liberals even further to their political corners, and increase the partisan divide.
But sometimes the most salient American cultural value is the broader American identity itself. Both conservatives and liberals share the broader national American identity and democratic ideals, which become salient in response to superordinate threats—whether to resolve external problems like climate change, or defeat enemies foreign or domestic. So, during a four-year cultural “crisis” in which most people openly worried that Trumpian politics would tear America apart, it seemed likely that both conservatives and liberals would be focused on their superordinate American identity and the ideals of democracy. If so, then mortality salience should motivate Americans toward political unity.
President Biden’s campaign focused on restoring political unity in America. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
And that’s exactly what we found in my thesis. Among liberals, mortality salience reduced allegiance to other liberals and increased positive attitudes toward conservatives. And among conservatives, mortality salience reduced allegiance to other conservatives and increased positive attitudes toward liberals. So, basically, death awareness motivated both liberals and conservatives to become a little less partisan, and to like each other a bit more.
That seems to match up with other trends happening over the past couple years. I think Trump “activated” some extreme partisan elements of our society, and brought them into the spotlight with him. But they were never large in numbers. I think the rest of us—the majority in mainstream America—were horrified by that, and became focused on restoring unity for the good of the nation. That was certainly the mantra of Joe Biden’s campaign, which often talked about fighting for the “soul of the nation” and “restoring unity.” And when voters had the option at the polls, they chose the unity candidate.
ISSEP: When you were developing your thesis project, what drew you to the political realm in particular?
Madison Sarlo: A history class! The class was one of my favorite gen-ed classes, taught by Dr. Steven Reich, here at JMU, and it focused on threats to democracy in the current day and age. Obviously, there are a lot of things that can threaten the integrity of our democracy, but one that stood out to me was political polarization—it causes congressional gridlock, hostility between members of the public, and so on. I see this problem on social media, in my classes, and even among some of my own family members. I kept talking about it with Dr. Harvell-Bowman, in our research lab, and started learning more about the terror management theory perspective on political polarization and unity, and it all started to come together.
ISSEP: In what ways can your research help us make sense of important human experiences, better understand important events, or inform our cultural or technological trends?
Madison Sarlo: I think the ubiquitous spread of pocket-sized computer technology means that we have unprecedented access to both traditional and social media, and that we need to spend time thinking about how that new technology might impact the way our ancient brains guide our behavior in today’s social environment. So much of the information coming to us, from the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we fall asleep at night, has to do with death-related existential concerns. We hear about natural disasters, guns and shootings, and cancer patients seeking help on GoFundMe; the coronavirus pandemic is constantly in the news; and we have debates about what to do about terrorism, wars, abortion, climate change, and healthcare. That constant stream of death-reminders could potentially cause political conflict and polarization, but could also lead to political unity and peaceful coexistence. I think it’s important to learn more so we can better understand and steer the process toward peace and unity.
ISSEP: You’ve been studying these issues using psychological science. Do you see your research topic being dealt with in interesting ways by the arts?
George Orwell’s 1949 book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, depicts a dystopian future featuring psychologically manipulative authoritarian states.
Madison Sarlo: Yes! I know it’s dystopian, but I think we can see an illustration in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. In that novel, the Oceania super-state has emerged from civil war, and the prevailing IngSoc Party organizes perpetual war against the two other super-states, Eurasia and Eastasia, to keep its citizens focused on upholding party unity and defending their nation. The Party uses mortality salience to motivate that unity, possibly by running false-flag bombing attacks on its own cities (e.g., London) and definitely by using the media to scapegoat the other states during “Hate Week.”
One lesson of Nineteen Eighty-Four was that leaders are able to use the specter of death and destruction at the hands of an outgroup (Eurasia/Eastasia) to motivate unity within the ingroup (Oceania). Indeed, we can see that basic process happening across almost any group boundaries in the American political context. As one example, President Trump used the process to rally Republican unity around himself. He drew a line around a small but passionate conservative base, issued warnings that death and destruction would come from various outgroups, and used the media to scapegoat immigrants, the Democrats, the “deep state,” and any other politically expedient enemies. The effect was political polarization and violence as Trump’s base unified around him and against their enemies. However, as another example, mainstream pundits and politicians, including Joe Biden, used the same process but against Trump. They drew a line around a much larger group—mainstream Americans, both liberal and conservative—and warned that Trump’s continued division would itself bring death and destruction, and thus rallied a much larger and more bi-partisan coalition around unity and against Trump.
ISSEP: What do you think are some of the remaining issues in studying the existential dynamics of political ideology, and what do you see as the most important next steps toward better understanding these experiences?
Madison Sarlo: One remaining issue for future research is to start doing a better job of learning when death awareness will motivate political polarization vs. political unity. The available evidence seems to suggest that it matters whether a particular group identity, or belief/standard/value is salient, but we need better documentation of the cultural atmosphere and participants’ most salient identities and values when they’re managing their existential concerns.
“The Existential Preconference was—in one word—awesome!”
ISSEP: You attended, and presented research at, our 2021 Existential Psychology Pre-conference as an undergraduate. What was that experience like?
Madison Sarlo: The Existential Preconference was—in one word—awesome! What a fantastic experience; I'm so grateful that I got the opportunity to participate. I really enjoyed being able to talk to so many different people about my research, and doing it virtually was still a very cool and incredibly rewarding experience. Everyone was so supportive! I'm really glad that I got to do it!
ISSEP: Do you think the conference helped prepare you for your next steps down your career path, wherever that might lead?
Madison Sarlo: It was a great chance to practice verbally presenting research to colleagues in the field, in a professional setting. If I do end up going into research, which is what I hope to do, that will be a skill I’ll likely use frequently. So, it’s been great getting a glimpse into what a career in the field might look like.
ISSEP: What was your favorite part of the event?
Madison Sarlo: I think my favorite part of it was talking about research with people at other universities. A major highlight was that I was able to meet Tom Pyszczynski, who helped co-create terror management theory. Chatting with him, as well as a host of other leading researchers in the field, was so stimulating. It helped me gain some insight and perspective that I don't think I would have come up with on my own.
ISSEP: What is one piece of advice you would give to future students who have an interest in following in your footsteps, so they too can enter the field and make useful contributions to the science of existential psychology?
Madison Sarlo: My biggest piece of advice would be to read as much as you can. Read research articles, theory papers, and books, and do your best to become a well-rounded and knowledgeable person on that topic. Also come up with a system for keeping track of that reading; save materials, save citations, and take notes, and keep it all as organized as you can.
ISSEP: Can you tell us a little about yourself outside the research context?
Madison Sarlo: I'm a huge music nerd; I've sung in choirs and acapella groups my whole life. I was also a theater kid in high school. I work out a lot, and I’m into rock climbing, yoga, and running. I speak Spanish semi-fluently. I love animals, especially dogs; when I was little, my dream job was to become a veterinarian.
ISSEP: A lot of us like to listen to music in the lab; what are you listening to lately?
Madison Sarlo: I like mellow rock, so I listen to a lot of Eric Hutchinson, John Mayer, Mat Kearney, and other artists like that. One of my most-listened-to songs from those artists is "I Guess I Just Feel Like" by John Mayer.