Graduation Year
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree
Ph.D.
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
Degree Granting Department
Psychology
Major Professor
Jamie Goldenberg, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Emily Courtney, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Kemesha Gabbidon, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Dinorah Martinez Tyson, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Joe Vandello, Ph.D.
Keywords
Meaning, The Self, Disidentification, Materiality
Abstract
This dissertation examines how material objects function as existential supports under conditions of cultural exclusion. Drawing on Terror Management Theory (TMT), minority stress theory, and José Muñoz’s concept of disidentification, it introduces the construct of self-holding objects: possessions imbued with identity-sustaining meaning that stabilize the self. Study 1 employed a qualitative photovoice design with 16 queer adults and identified five primary existential functions of meaningful objects: affirming worth, regulating the body, mirroring the self, authorizing possibility, and enabling worldmaking. These findings suggest that objects operate as material anchors within distributed systems of meaning. Study 2 experimentally tested whether imagining the destruction of a meaningful object would increase death thought accessibility, death anxiety, and meaninglessness among 381 queer adults. The manipulation did not produce significant main effects, though race moderated the effect of condition on meaninglessness. Together, the findings refine models of existential defense by suggesting that anxiety buffering processes may be materially scaffolded.
Scholar Commons Citation
Lee, Kirsten J., "Death and Things: Toward a Theory of Self-Holding Objects" (2026). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/11335
