> It may be tied to certain other psychological theories, like the terror management theory, Feltham says. Terror Management suggests that human nature is actua

> It may be tied to certain other psychological theories, like the terror management theory, Feltham says. Terror Management suggests that human nature is actually wired towards self-deception: In order to avoid facing terrifying concepts like death, most of us live in a state of self-delusion. And maybe, when we're depressed, we're just less likely to be deceived. For what it's worth, Terror Management Theory has pretty much failed to replicate: https://psyarxiv.com/dkg53/ https://psyarxiv.com/dkg53/ ("Failed pre-registered replication of mortality salience effects in traditional and novel measures") Just one study, whole theory doesn't depend on one replication attempt, etc. -- but the baseline rate for a set of social psych findings being legit should probably be <50% at the outset.