Abstract: Terror Management Theory (TMT.) explains the self-esteem through the meaning and value of human beings’ life, a plenty of empirical evidence supports supported the hypotheses derived from it. This article summarizes the origin and the basic content of TMT. On the basis of the survey of the relative studies, the authors review the development of TMT in recent years. Meanwhile, the authors also present recommendations for future research

Key words: self-esteem, TMT, the anxiety-buffer hypothesis, the mortality salience hypothesis, dual-process model of defense