Mortality salience leads to greater consumption of an ostensibly alcoholic beverage on Friday versus other weekdays.

Objectives: We build on findings from terror management theory to examine how non-conscious mortality concerns may lead individuals to adhere to cultural meanings yoked to discrete time periods, in this case influencing consumption of an ostensibly alcoholic beverage.
Design: The study took the form of a 2 (death vs. uncertainty reminder) × 3 (Monday vs. Wednesday vs. Friday) between-subjects laboratory-based quasi-experimental design.
Methods: A total of 210 participants (age: M = 21.92 years, SD = 5.33; 103 males and 107 females) recruited from a UK university answered either an open-ended question to prime mortality or uncertainty cognition on either a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. As part of an ostensible taste test, they then consumed as much or as little of a purportedly alcoholic drink as they desired.
Results: Death reminders (vs. control topic) were found to result in more consumption of the beverage on a Friday, less consumption on a Monday, and no difference in consumption on a Wednesday.
Conclusions: Findings point to the flexible, time-contingent nature of culture-oriented defences against mortality concerns with potential implications for the efficacy of alcohol health warnings featuring mortality-related stimuli. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Death reminders can spur people to adhere to cultural scripts for behaviour in the service of maintaining existential security. Death reminders can lead people to consume alcohol (particularly for those who are low in self-esteem). What does this study add? Death reminders may lead people to adhere to temporally yoked scripts related to drinking behaviour. Specifically, death reminders led to more positive drinking attitudes and more alcohol consumed on Friday compared to Monday or Wednesday. Cultural script following may be specifically tied to non-conscious mortality awareness.
(© 2019 The British Psychological Society.)