ISSEP-2026-09

GRANT ID#: ISSEP-2026-09

GRANT TITLE: Reinvesting in the Mundane at the End of the World.

GRANTEE: The City University of New York.

PRIMARY INVESTIGATOR: Brendan Fee.

CO-PRIMARY INVESTIGATORS: Ana Gantman.

GRANT AMOUNT: USD $3,000

DURATION OF GRANT PROJECT: April 15, 2026 – April 15, 2027.

Description of the Project

Executive summary:

It has become cliche to observe that we are living in “unprecedented times.” Existential threats are made constantly accessible through social media, which portray each event as portending imminent annihilation. Nonetheless, people are compelled to behave normally, “to toe the mark of what is socially possible” (Becker, 1973). This contradiction—everything is falling apart, and everything must go on as usual—creates anxiety (i.e., dissonance) that results in compensatory reinvestment in individual mundane activities. As it is easier to turn inward than to set about preventing the death of civilization, we predict that after U.S. participants (N = 1,500) view real apocalyptic (vs. mundane) social media messaging, separate linear models will reveal greater reinvestment in participants’ own daily tasks and less motivation to engage in collective action. Drawing from Becker, we seek to understand how people go about their daily lives amidst the fear of imminent death.

Itemized budget:

The entirety of the grant will be used for participant support to carry out the research. See below for a table with the itemized costs for the study. The cost per person ($2.00) for a ten-minute online study with 1,500 participants was calculated using Prolific’s cost estimator, resulting in an estimated $3,000 to complete the study.

The total amount approved for this project is USD $3,000.