Terror Management Theory

hey everyone.

today in my psych class, the lecturer was talking about the terror management theory which i found quite interesting and strange... since its closely related to self-esteem i thought you guys might find this interesting.

the theory:
people often have subconscious fear of death that is buffered by self-esteem. when death or concept of finite existence is primed, people subconsciously react by positively validating their self-esteem. since these things occur subconsciously, we are competely unaware of them, so in other words thoughts of death = temporarily heightened self-esteem. moreover, several studies demonstrate that the desire for close relationship under condition of mortality salience exceeds and overrides other emotions like pride and avoidance (shame/guilt). So what i assume the theory suggests, is that if you really like someone but struggle to overcome your fears of rejection, imagine that there is no tomorrow, it should help you forget about you anxieties - pretty f-ing epic mindset for making friends isnt it? =)))

I guess the theory makes a bit of sense, but it still sounds like something only Freud could come up with... i never actually felt particularly cheerful after dwelling on dying, but research seems to show that it works! there's gotta be a better way to boost your self-esteem, but i still wanna try this one somehow

any thoughts?

It seems that that theory is the entire premise of the movie "Dead Poets Society".