| The study investigated the self-esteem mechanism of buffering the anxiety from mortality being reminded with 336 undergraduates from JinLin University and Northeast Normal University. The results were as follows:1. Mortality reminded aroused the individuals to enhance the identification with the effective sources of self-esteem, but not to reduce the identification with the ineffective ones. Namely, the individuals with the high nobody and low body self-esteem enhanced the identification with nobody sources of self-esteem; the ones with the high body and low nobody self-esteem enhanced the identification with the body sources of self-esteem; the ones with the high body and nobody self-esteem enhanced the identification with both the body and nobody sources of self-esteem. For the ones with low body and nobody self-esteem, the identifications with body and nobody were not enhanced, yet they were not reduced.2. At the moment of mortality reminded, all the individuals in the different level of self-esteem gave birth to anxiety, yet there were not the discrepancy of self-esteem. Namely, there was not any self-esteem striving at the moment.3. After the five minutes when mortality reminded was delayed, there was the remarkable discrepancy of anxiety among the individuals in the different level of self-esteem. The anxiety for both low body and nobody self-esteem was more than other three self-esteem levels; the anxiety for both high body and nobody self-esteem was less than other three self-esteem levels; there was not discrepancy when individuals with low body and high nobody self-esteem compared with the ones with high body and low nobody self-esteem. Namely, the functioning of anxiety-buffer of self-esteem was aroused after the five minutes.4. In the situations of mortality reminded, the anxiety before identification with self-esteem sources compared with the anxiety after ones, the former was more than the latter. Namely, the anxiety was buffered by the means of the identification with self-esteem sources.5. The self-esteem mechanism of buffering the anxiety from mortality reminded was that in the situations of mortality reminded, firstly the individuals gave birth to the most instinct and direct anxiety; after thefive minutes, the sources were aroused in the long memories, the functioning of anxiety-buffer of self-esteem was started, the individuals increased the identification with the effective sources of self-esteem, after that, the anxiety would decrease, and disappeared in the end. Namely, the individuals broken away from the anxiety in the way that they strived towards effective sources of self-esteem. |
