Opposing Standards within the Cultural Worldview: Terror Management and American Women's Desire for Uniqueness versus Inclusiveness

Two different standards within American women's overall cultural worldview were examined in two studies: standing out and fitting in. American culture prescribes and values uniqueness, yet gender norms for women prescribe and value inclusiveness. Thus, unlike American men, American women encounter incongruent cultural norms that make it unclear which she will uphold when faced with thoughts of death. We hypothesized that, for women (and not men), gender salience would moderate worldview adherence. Using standard terror management manipulations, American women were subjected to a self or gender prime (Study 1) as well as a non-gender-group prime and compared to men (Study 2). Results showed that under mortality salience, women primed with gender identified more with their gender group, were more likely to behave inclusively, and were more likely to desire affiliation. In contrast, those primed with the self, a non-gender-group prime, as well as men, were more likely to desire uniqueness. These findings suggest that, for an American woman, both inclusiveness and uniqueness are responses to mortality salience, depending on her momentary reference point.