Terror management theory and the educational situation

How might we teach more successfully towards better relations between and among social groups? Recognizing factors that limit rapprochement with those with divergent worldviews has been a perennial concern for education research. However, more research is needed to understand how feelings of conflict arise, and thus this paper discusses terror management theory (TMT) as a generative theoretical framework for engaging with conflicting perspectives in classrooms and beyond. An awareness of existential processes that impact teaching and learning provides an opportunity to engage with divergent worldviews in a way that mitigates hostile responses. TMT can assist our understandings of the psychological process of worldview threat with the hope that we might better metacognitively anticipate our threat and defence cycles.