EPS

Conference Program - Friday, Oct. 11
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Conference Event Schedule

Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, and Sheldon Solomon had already been through graduate school together (with Jack Brehm at the University of Kansas) and collaborated on many social psychological studies when Sheldon gave a conference talk in 1984 presenting for the first time what the world now knows as terror management theory. Fusing the existential and psychoanalytic insights of Ernest Becker with the empirical methods of contemporary psychology, this theory has become one of the most important in the history of the field, with the original 3 publications establishing the theory having been cumulatively cited more than 8,000 times. But more impressive than the impact of terror management are the virtually countless students who have been trained at the undergraduate, Master’s, and PhD level by Solomon, Pyszczynski, and Greenberg, or more often than not by some combination of the three. Beyond their generous and inspiring mentorship of many of today’s leading social psychologists and the development of terror management theory, they have also made numerous contributions in areas such as depression and clinical psychology, attitudes, and cognitive dissonance. Through it all, the three have remained close friends and collaborators, often sharing awards and honors, such as the Career Contribution Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

The University of Arizona – where Jeff Greenberg was, until his recent retirement, the longest serving faculty member in the Psychology Department – will be hosting an event to commemorate the trio of researchers and to celebrate the retirement in 2024 of Greenberg and Pyszczynski. This event is made possible by generous support from the institutions of Tom Pyszczynski (University of Colorado, Colorado Springs) and Sheldon Solomon (Skidmore College). It will be a Festschrift-style combination of scholarship and reminiscence, with many of the former students, colleagues, and friends of the trio traveling across the country to attend. Around 75 attendees will gather together at the UA campus in Tucson for two and a half days, including social events and a day of academic presentations testifying to the honorees’ ongoing contributions and influence on the field, given by some of today’s leading figures in social and existential psychology. The mini-conference will conclude with a reception as a final celebration of three careers which will often be remembered as one.

Terror management theory attests to the role that fear of death plays in human cognition and social motivation. If the theory proposes that we spend much of our lives struggling to create a lasting legacy in the face of death, then the legacy established by these three friends attests to the power of that motivation. And if death is the “undiscovered country”, then for 40 years Greenberg, Pyszczynski, and Solomon have been our G.P.S.

• Jamie Arndt, University of Missouri
• Mark Dechesne, Leiden University
• Jamie Goldenberg, University of South Florida
• Dylan Horner, Minot State University
• Mark Landau, University of Kansas
• McKenzie Lockett, National Center for PTSD D&T
• Molly Maxfield, Arizona State University
• Liz Pinel, University of Vermont
• Jeff Schimel, University of Alberta
   

• Daniel Sullivan, Dept. of Psychology, University of Arizona
• Tomi-Ann Roberts, Psychology, Colorado College
• Ken Vail, Dept. of Psychology, Cleveland State University
• Lyla Rothschild, M.A. Psychology, former Ernest Becker Foundation Program Director
• Alex Sielaff, PhD Psychology