death, dying, and bereavement - ch. 17

Question 1

mooney (death anxiety) 2005

Answer 1

studied two groups of nursing students, one group did a 13-week long course on death while the other group did not. when surveyed before and after it was found that death anxiety decreased in the students who took the class

Question 2

hayflick number

Answer 2

how many times our cells can replicate (about 50 for humans)

Question 3

telomeres

Answer 3

caps of cells. they slowly deteriorate and once they are gone, cells can no longer replicate

Question 4

antagonistic pleitropy (evolution)

Answer 4

traits than increased childbearing capacity inadvertently decreased our lifespan

Question 5

p-53 and cancer

Answer 5

p-53 tells damaged cells to stop replicating, but as we get older, it stops communicating. this allows cancers a chance to take hold.

Question 6

hormones

Answer 6

by increasing hormones that regulate our body’s decline, perhaps we could live longer? hormones eventually run out but they’re used to renew skin, nails, hair, etc.

Question 7

leaky defense hypothesis (immune system)

Answer 7

as our skin dries up and cracks, our body becomes more vulnerable and germs can slip in more easily.

Question 8

thymus gland

Answer 8

controls the immune system low key, as it produces T-Cells that can fight off infection.

Question 9

wear and tear

Answer 9

our bodies just wear out over time

Question 10

predatory vs. existential death anxiety

Answer 10

predatory: we don’t want to get killed and will move away from the things that threaten us!

existential: we know we will die and thus are aware of our mortality. unsettling

Question 11

freud’s theory on death

Answer 11

thanatophobia, the fear of our death is unimaginable to use and we convince ourselves that we must be immortal. instead, we merely fear other aspects of our lives that stress us.

Question 12

terror management theory (becker)

Answer 12

existential death anxiety can flare up, being higher or lower over time. this is how we manage it.
directly: create monuments to the deceased, immortalizing them
indirectly: art, music, obsession with the supernatural

Question 13

death anxiety’s demographic differences

gender/age/religion/individuals

Answer 13

higher in women (maybe)
lower in old people
religion doesn’t make it better or worse
much of it is up to individual differences and death salience

Question 14

phases of death

a/c/m

Answer 14

agonal: someone who has been ill, their body is starting to stop. varying amount of time, noticeable erratic breathing, the ‘death rattle’, fingers, toes, and earlobes may start turning blue

clinical: body stops, no breathing, no pulse, no reflexes, body begins to cool. children especially can be brought back

mortality: permanent. blood pools within the body, body goes to room temperature, fixed eyes

Question 15

in the past, death was more __________ and more _______

Answer 15

frequent, rapid

Question 16

the hospice approach

Answer 16

care for the family and the patient. rather than curing someone of their ailment, you seek to improve their quality of life as much as is possible.