The Worm at the Core ─ On the Role of Death in Life

A transformative, fascinating new theory—based on robust and groundbreaking clinical research—that reveals how our unconscious fear of death powers almost everything we do, shining a light on the hidden motivations of human behavior

More than one hundred years ago, the American philosopher William James wrote that the knowledge that we must die is “the worm at the core” of the human condition—a universally shared fear that informs all our thoughts and actions, from the great art we create to the devastating wars we wage. Now Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski—psychologists all—provide the empirical proof of James’s insight, in a book that challenges centuries of conventional philosophical wisdom.

The Worm at the Core is the product of twenty-five years of in-depth research and experimentation. Using data collected from human subjects, Solomon, Greenberg, and Pyszczynski show conclusively that the fear of death and the attendant desire to live forever inspire us to buy expensive cars, max out our credit cards, crave fame, have sex with multiple partners—in other words, to do anything that will distract us from the knowledge that someday we will die. Consciously or unconsciously, fear of death can prompt a judge to dole out harsher punishments, make children react negatively to photographs of people different from themselves, and inspire politicians to lead their nations to war.

But the worm at the core need not consume us. This book also reveals how human beings have come to terms with death and learned to lead lives of courage, creativity, and compassion. Out of the authors’ research has emerged a unique and compelling approach to these deeply existential issues: terror management theory, which proposes that human culture itself serves no more critical function than reinforcing a sense of immortality. It infuses our lives with order, stability, significance, and purpose, and these anchors enable us to function moment to moment without becoming overwhelmed by the knowledge of our ultimate fate.

Written in an accessible, jargon-free style, The Worm at the Core offers a compelling new paradigm for understanding the choices we make in life—and a pathway toward divesting ourselves of the cultural and social illusions that keep us from accepting the end that awaits us all.

Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, and Tom Pyszczynski are professors of psychology at Skidmore College, the University of Arizona, and the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, respectively. They have been collaborating on research and writing projects for more than thirty years. Their award-winning and National Science Foundation–funded work has infused existential thought into modern psychological science, using state-of-the-art methods to explore terrain long thought to be beyond the scope of scientific scrutiny. This integration of different approaches has led to new ways of thinking about culture, self-esteem, and the factors that steer people toward their most noble and ignoble actions.