思想及情緒影響著我們的行為，例如我們的決策行為。過去的研究發現，在負向情緒的狀態下，人們會傾向於改變現狀來設法改善當下的負向 情緒，因此會用較為謹慎且理性的方式來處理訊息(Schwarz & Clore, 1996)。Lerner(2004)的研究中還進一步發現，誘發厭惡(disgust)情緒後的受試者會改變其原有的行為傾向，變得會做出丟出所有物的行為決策，例如降低原物品的價格來進行拋售等(Lerner, Small, & Loewenstein, 2004)。那麼思考死亡，會給人類的決策行為帶來什麼樣的影響呢? 本研究主要探討個體在思考死亡的情境下，因思考死亡所產生的焦慮及恐懼，對個體的內在心理會產生什麼樣的影響，並進一步影響個體的外在行為以及決策判斷。根據Greenberg(1992)的研究指出，人類在面臨死亡情境時會為了避免陷入焦慮的情境中，傾向做出符合文化世界觀所要求的行為，即符合所處社會價值觀所接受的行為。
在研究中以恐懼管理理論(Terror Management Theory)的死亡顯著性(mortality salience)情境，探討死亡顯著性如何影響人類對說謊行為的選擇與否，並研究受試者皮膚電位反應及心跳頻率來探討背後的生理機制。實驗一的結果中顯示，相較於原始文獻的實驗，實驗中有說謊傾向的人數比例較少，且在不同的思考情境後說謊傾向的人數比例也差異不大。實驗二則在情境效果的前後差異中發現行為有改變的趨勢，思考死亡後執行說謊行為時所誘發的生理反應大於思考死亡前。實驗三則是藉由模擬競爭的情境來探討受試者在競爭狀態下的行為反應，實驗結果顯示不同的情境會有不同的行為傾向。另外發現說謊行為所誘發的生理反應在透過不同的情境效果後，也會得到不同的結果，例如思考死亡組在思考情境後執行說謊時會誘發較大的生理反應。
整合研究的結果發現，情境思考對於說謊行為的確會產生影響，然而不同情境的組間效果並不顯著，思考死亡與思考拔牙經驗的控制組並無太大的差異，故我們只能推測該實驗的結果雖有發現思考情境有改變行為傾向的效果，但本研究中的兩種思考情境並不具有不同的改變功能，關於思考死亡能夠改變什麼樣的特定行為，以及什麼樣的思考情境能改變說謊行為，目前仍未發現更好的解答，期望未來改善實驗過程中的缺失後，能發現不同思考情境的組間差異，找尋思考死亡對於行為傾向最明顯的改變，也找尋到具有減少說謊行為發生的特定思考情境。

Emotion and thoughts affect our behavior and decision making. In the past, researchers found that people tend to change their current situation to ameliorate a negative emotional state. Thus, they resort to a more cautious and rational way to deal with receptive information. Lerner''s study further found that objects eliciting feelings of disgust make people change their original behavior patterns. They may decide to disown the dreaded object, such as through underselling in business. Similarly, studies have asked about what kind of impact thoughts of death would have on people’s decision making? This study focuses on the influence of anxiety and fear induced by thoughts of death on one’s mental affects; further, on one’s behavior and decision making. According to Greenberg, in avoidance of anxiety, people conform their behavior to that required by the world view which is deemed acceptable in society, when facing issues of death and dying.
This study applies mortality salience adopted from Terror Management Theory, to probe into its influence on decision making about whether or not to engage in lying. Moreover, the study explores the physiological mechanisms behind skin conductivity and heart rate. Compared to the existing literature, result of the Experiment 1 in this study indicating the number of lying behaviors has become less. However, the proportion of lying behavior, after each scenario, is not significant. Experiment 2, though, shows that behavior changes when adding thoughts of death into the scenarios. The physiological response induced by lying behavior after thoughts of death is greater than it was before such thoughts.
Through simulating competitive scenarios, experiment 3 explores behaviors under a competitive situation. The result shows indicate that behaviors change across the scenarios, and the physiological response induced by telling a lie, changes with scenarios too. For instance, those who were grouped into cognizing death thoughts gave rise to a greater physiological response after telling a lie.

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