Uncertainty middle-management: personal certainty is not the core existential motive

Routledge, Clay, Juhl, Jacob and Sullivan, Daniel (2009) Uncertainty middle-management: personal certainty is not the core existential motive. Psychological Inquiry, 20 (4), 235-239. (doi:10.1080/10478400903333502).

Abstract

Research in the field of social psychology has long demonstrated that people adopt attitudes and engage in a variety of behaviors that promote feelings of certainty (see Arkin, Oleson, & Carroll, in press). Van den Bos (this issue) proposes that seeking personal certainty is the core existential motive, or at least that the uncertainty management model would be the most profitable basis for social psychological research on existential concerns. Specifically, he asserts that “there are good reasons to postulate that the core existential motive underlying many models and many research findings is people’s striving to feel certain about themselves and their trying to deal with personal uncertainties” (p. 211). Although there are many elements of the uncertainty management model that we find intriguing and agreeable, and we applaud Van den Bos’ efforts to integrate related research and spark cross-theoretical discourse, we disagree that seeking personal certainty is the core existential motive. We also believe that the uncertainty management model cannot satisfactorily account for a major portion of extant research on existential strivings. On the following pages, we challenge the uncertainty management model by asserting that (a) certainty-strivings, as defined by Van den Bos (this issue), are often in the service of other motives; (b) existential strivings do not always bolster personal certainty; and (c) contrary to the claims of Van den Bos (this issue), the uncertainty management model cannot account for the bulk of research derived from terror management theory (TMT; Solomon, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). We conclude by suggesting that one, but not the only, core existential motive is the desire to transcend death.

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