As the authors explain early on in their piece, according to the tenets of terror-management theory (TMT), a popular conceptual framework for understanding human cognition in the face of threat and uncertainty, “individuals employ a wide range of cognitive and behavioral efforts to regulate the anxiety that mortality salience evokes,” the psychological goal being “maintaining self-esteem and acquiring meaning in life.” 
 
 According to this theory, then, someone facing imminent death might not necessarily express primarily sad or scared sentiments. Researchers have studied the final words of Texas inmates about to be executed and discovered most of their statements were positive. To test this theory in a particularly intense context, Hirschmüller and Egloff used a grim database of inmates’ last statements available on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s website. You all stay strong. Watch over each other. “I love my family. It’s my hour. Stay strong.” (Executed death row inmate 360) 
 
 “Even though I lay on this gurney, seconds away from my death, I am at total peace. "I am still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud ... Let's do this damn thing." Another prisoner praised God and Texas. For one thing, how do you determine what baseline to compare a condemned prisoners’ last words to? Goodnight, 1, 2 there it goes.” (Executed death row inmate 472) 
 
 “Yes, I do, uh at this time I would like to thank my parents who have been my pillar of strength throughout this. "To my brothers and sisters and all my family members who have supported me and who have loved me despite my faults and imperfections," said inmate 459. I would like to thank Pastor Williams for counseling me and guiding me. As I look to my right and I see the family of […]. "I hope this brings you closure or some type of peace. I hope it helps his family, son, and loved ones. This has been a long journey, one of enlightenment. It’s not the end, it’s only the beginning.” (Executed death row inmate 459) 
 
 The researchers did find evidence to support a terror-management explanation: Overall, when compared to both a big database of the content of the written and spoken communication of more than 23,000 individuals, as well as samples taken from undergraduates instructed to contemplate their death, and from actual suicide notes (some written before “successful” suicide attempts, others before unsuccessful ones), the inmates’ last words contained a significantly higher proportion of positive words. On the sample level, to account for the different number of total words spoken by death row inmates, we computed the absolute numbers of positive emotion words and negative emotion words. “In sum,” the authors write, “the final statements of Texas death row inmates conveyed extremely positive expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with mortality.” Hirschmüller and Egloff take this as evidence that the influence of terror-management psychological mechanisms helped cause people to feel and express strangely positive feelings in the face of imminent death. The suicide notes seem like a more relevant comparison, and here one could make the case that in instances in which someone wants to die, they might feel less of a lack of control than someone strapped to a gurney, meaning that terror-management influences don’t kick in as much (since one thing that triggers them is a lack of control over the situation). Also, the last line of the study, in the section outlining its limitations, is really important: “Further, despite the extremely standardized execution protocol, the possible influence of situational characteristics (e.g., the actual presence or absence of one’s own loved ones and victim witnesses) during the execution could not be examined.” It’s obviously a bit oversimplistic to say someone is or isn’t influenced by terror management when they’re making a final statement; surely a combination of factors is at work. More than words: contemplating death enhances positive emotional word use. There are few other situations in which you can hear the thoughts of someone who knows they will be dead in a few minutes.
– What would you say if you were about to be executed? There's a good chance your last words would be on the positive side. At least that was the case for 407 death row inmates executed between 1982 and 2015 in Texas, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Psychology. German researchers compared the inmates' final statements to a database of written and spoken content from more than 23,000 people, along with samples from students told to think about their own deaths and real suicide notes. The result: "The inmates’ last words contained a significantly higher proportion of positive words," New York reports. And that, according to the study authors, reflects "the emotional processes of coping with mortality" by "maintaining self-esteem and acquiring meaning in life." The findings fall within the framework of "Terror Management Theory," which claims that people use a "wide range of cognitive and behavioral efforts" to reduce anxiety in the face of impending death. For instance, one of the final statements used in the study read in part: “Even though I lay on this gurney, seconds away from my death, I am at total peace. May the Lord Jesus Christ be with me. ... I am still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud." Others turned to their families, who may or may not have been present at executions. "I love my family," said one, per Yahoo. "It’s my hour. It’s my hour. I love you. Stay strong." Another said he hoped his death would bring "closure or some type of peace" to family members, adding, "This has been a long journey, one of enlightenment. It’s not the end, it’s only the beginning." (A witness tries to explain what it's like to watch an execution.)