death anxiety

Question 1

What is death anxiety?

Answer 1

Over the life span, we encounter death: the dying experiences of loved ones, the death of loved ones, our own dying experiences, our own deaths

Question 2

According to Bjorklund death may be interpreted as:

Answer 2

1)An organizer of time
2)reward/punishment
3)a transition
4)gain/loss

Question 3

Nyatanga and de Vocht provide a more nuanced definition of death anxiety:

Answer 3

An unpleasant emotion of multidimensional concerns that is of an existential origin provoked on contemplation of death for self or others

Question 4

Death anxiety are typically assessed using self-report (explicit) measures:Compromised of 7 underlying factors

Answer 4

Fear of uncertainty and missing out

Fear of the pain associated with death

Concern over the disposition of ones’ body

Fear of helplessness and loss of control

Afterlife concerns
~~~Where do we go?

Fear of decomposition

Concerns over instructions on “how things should be done after death”
~~~Instructions we leave for others such as our belongings and our body

Question 5

terror management theory,

Answer 5

awareness of the inevitability of death significantly impacts judgment and behavior:

Specifically to alleviate death anxiety, we strive to maintain commitment to our cultural worldview and self esteem to feel that we are not just animals destined to annihilation

When we feel we have fulfilled cultural expectations, we are worthy, and increase in self esteem that defies notion of death

Question 6

Increased awareness of death results in more

Answer 6

favorable reactions to people and ideas that are consistent with our worldviews;increased ingroup bias;increased stereotyping of and prejudice/aggression toward outgroup members; and increased nationalism

Moreover threats to our cultural worldview and self esteem result in increased accessibility of death related thoughts

Question 7

Are there age-related differences in death anxiety?
Russac et al (2007)

Answer 7

By age 60, death anxiety for both men and women appear to stabilize at a uniformly low level

Females show peak death anxiety in young adulthood and second peak at age 50 that is not seen in males

Question 8

Explanations of female bimodal peak

Answer 8

Menopause around age 50
Anxiety of being able to present for their grandkids

Question 9

Bluntschli et al

Answer 9

Examined brain activity among younger and older adults exposed to death related stimuli
~~Older adults shower more brain activity in negative words than death words

Suggesting that at a biological level, younger people show more anxiety at death related stimuli than older people

Question 10

Grief work involves

Answer 10

movement through negative stages before resolution

Question 11

Kubler ross

Answer 11

denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance

Question 12

Bowlby

Answer 12

numbness, yearning, disorganization, despair, reorganization

Question 13

Dual process model of coping with bereavement

Answer 13

loss orientated vs restoration orientated

Question 14

Bonanno et al (2002)

Conducted a longitudinal study of older married couples in which a subset of participants experienced spousal death; contrasted adjustment before death and 6 and 18 months after death

Answer 14

Categorized on pattern of responding to the loss of a loved one

Resilient: 46%

Resilient categorized majority of older adults, did not show depression before loss or after loss

Question 15

Wink and dillon

Examined age related changes in religiosity/spirituality over a 35-year period

Answer 15

Distinguished trajectory for females and males
religiosity/spirituality has an increase for both men and women

Suggest search for meaning increases as we get older and leads people to turn to religious or spiritual means

For women there is a particular increase after early middle age, whereas males saw this increase later in later middle age
~~~Females saw a higher increase than males

Question 16

In his theory of psychosocial development erikson stated that ego integrity vs despair has a successful resolution when older adults feel a sense of emotional integration with the choices they have made and life experiences

Answer 16

develop a positive balance of ego integrity

Those who successfully resolve the crisis at this stage develop a ego strength of wisdom (a detached but active concern with life in the face of death)

Question 17

There are some common themes that wisdom involves:

Answer 17

pragmatic reasoning

reflective orientation

socioemotional awareness

Question 18

1) pragmatic reasoning

Answer 18

Lay emphasis on the knowing to live in an ethical perspective

Knowledge useful for dealing with life problems

Question 19

2)reflective orientation

Answer 19

Reflects characteristics concerning thinking before acting, thinking logically and in many ways, recognition of change, emotion control, and application of knowledge and past experience

Question 20

3)socioemotional awareness

Answer 20

Reflects characteristics concerning care for others feelings, one’s emotions, and other’s perspectives as well as humility

These characteristics describe traits concerned with social coordination and care for other

Question 21

Research has demonstrated that wisdom is associated with well being

Answer 21

: increase life satisfaction, decreased negative affect, better social relationships, decreased depressive rumination, more positive vs. negative words used in speech, and increase longevity

Question 22

The Berlin Wisdom Paradigm(Baltes and smith): contains 5 components that comprise wisdom

Answer 22

factual knowledge

strategic knowledge

knowledge about contexts of life and how these change over time

knowledge which considers the relativism of values and life goals

knowledge about the fundamental uncertainties of life and ways to manage

Question 23

Baltes and smith

Answer 23

Examined the relationship between the meta criteria of the berlin wisdom paradigm and age

Measured meta criteria using hypothetical vignettes

Question 24

Criticisms of the baltes and smith study

Answer 24

unrepresentative samples, hypothetical vignettes

Vignettes were very uncontextualized (not a lot of context given)

Question 25

Grossman et al:

Answer 25

Examined the relationship between wisdom and age

Addressed criticisms of the berlin wisdom paradigm: used random sampling, measured wisdom using naturalistic, context-rich stories on intergroup and interpersonal conflict

Question 26

key findings of grossman et al: discovered 6 wisdom dimensions

Answer 26

1)perspective shifting from one own point of view to point of view of people involved in the conflict
2)recognition of the likelihood of change
3)prediction flexibility as indicated by multiple possible prediction of how the conflict might unfold
4)recognition of uncertainty and limits of knowledge
5)search for conflict resolution
6)search for a compromise

Question 27

What is gerotranscendence?

Answer 27

A shift from objects and material goods to a more transcendence one, alignment with cosmic sphere

It is the engagement with religion and spirituality as approaching impending death

Question 28

3 components of gerotranscendence

Answer 28

cosmic

self

social and personal relationships

Question 29

cosmic

Answer 29

Altered perceptions of time and space, increased connections to earlier and later generations; decreased fear of death; increased acceptance of the “mystery dimension” of life;

Question 30

self

Answer 30

Increased discovery of “hidden aspects” of self; decreased self-centeredness;decreases concern with the body;

Question 31

Social and personal relationships

Answer 31

Altered meaning and importance of relations, accompanied by increased need for solitude; increased transcendence of role; decreased materialism; decreased distinction between “right” and “wrong”

Question 32

Cosmic transcendence as a function of age

Answer 32

Transcendence index states that transcendence increased with age

Higher transcendence in females during old age than males