Zoom registration: https://bostonu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwsdOCgrDsuEtdXY1DE6XUqPxXZUn8fLiLy EMS PhD candidate, Sarah Parker Ward, will be presenting and defending her dissertation prospectus. Questions and comments will be invited from the audience, as well as the Dissertation Committee. You can read more about Sarah's research below. Media & Mortality: An Exploratory Study of the Cognitive Antecedents for Socially Beneficent Management of Existential Anxiety From dynamic news media of natural catastrophes to targeted anti-aging advertisements, the emerging media landscape often confronts participants with content that can elicit thoughts of their inevitable death. Extant literature indicates a consequential tendency toward subconscious ideological bolstering as a means of assuaging related existential anxiety, yet this can manifest in a range of adverse behaviors. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the present study seeks to explore individual-level trait differences that, in combination with cultural values, may help more accurately predict mortality salient processing outcomes. Such findings will better inform pertinent interventions as well as provide content creators guardrails for death-related messaging.