Why humans form place attachment: A terror management perspective

Although extensive realistic evidence shows that place attachment may help people alleviate their fear of death, whether place attachment functions in death-terror management has not yet been explored theoretically. This study hypothesized that place attachment may function as a death-anxiety buffer and tested this hypothesis by conducting three experimental studies. Study 1 revealed that mortality salience enhanced participants’ place attachment, Study 2 showed that place attachment can reduce death-thought accessibility after mortality salience manipulation, and Study 3 indicated that place attachment can reduce terror management defenses following mortality salience manipulation. These findings demonstrate that place attachment can serve as a death-anxiety buffer to manage the terror of death. Theoretically, this study suggests an extra death-anxiety buffer for terror management theory and extends the conceptualization of place attachment as a psychological mechanism to deal with basic existential threats and needs. Practically, this study has implications for end-of-life care and the relocation of migrants from areas prone to natural hazards.