psych 456 death & loss midterm - all quizzes

cultural lag

What term do social scientists use to describe the phenomenon of societies falling behind in dealing with new challenges resulting from rapid technological and social change?

Death songs of Native Americans are

a summary of a person's life

One aspect of an "invisible death" is that death is

less part of common experience.

In Erickson's model, approximately what age marks the beginning of the child's moral sense?

preschool and kindergarten years

Epidemiologic transition is BEST defined as the

shift in disease patterns characterized by a redistribution of deaths from the young to the old.

The model of human development devised by Erikson focuses on

stages of psychosocial development.

At the turn of the century, young children were usually involved in activities surrounding the dead, including sleeping in the same room as the corpse.

true

Exercising independence is a hallmark of Erikson's autonomy versus shame and doubt stage.

true

For the Japanese, it is quite ordinary to talk to their dead ancestors.

true

Islam calls for the burial of the deceased as soon as possible.

true

Personal mortality is a subcomponent of universality.

true

Word choices may reflect changes in how death is experienced at different times.

true

Avoiding words like dead or dying, instead using phrases in which loved ones "pass away," the deceased is "laid to rest" and the corpse is "remains", is an example of

euphemisms

In reviewing the status of research and practice in thanatology, Herman Feifel points out that the

human mind operates on various levels of reality or finite provinces of meaning.

According to the text, in 2014, approximately what percentage of Americans are affiliated with a religious tradition?

71%

Regarding a mature concept of death, which of the following is true about universality?

all living things must eventually die

A "teachable" moment is most often best reserved for the classroom.

false

A child's mature understanding of death is seen as a single, unidimensional concept.

false

A death café is an online blog started in Europe to help recently widowed men.

false

People who describe themselves as religious suffer more death anxiety than their non-religious counterparts.

false

The major aspects of a mature concept of death are mastered in an unfixed, irregular sequential order.

false

What are the two leading causes of death in the United States?

heart disease and cancer

Which of the following factors does NOT affect our familiarity with death?

political decision making

Human concern for the dead

predates written history.

By what age do most children understand that death is a changed state?

preschool years

Research into death anxiety has been characterized by Kastenbaum as

thanatology's own assemble line

In his emphasis relevant to terror management theory, Ernest Becker addressed

the need to control our basic anxiety and to deny the terror of death.

Lullabies and nursery rhymes often contain

themes of death and violence

A euphemism is a shorthand way of referring to an exciting event.

false

Children who have had first-hand encounters with death tend to

have a developmentally more mature understanding of death.

In 1963, the University of Minnesota

held the first formal course in death education.

In American blues music, themes of loss, separation, and tribulation are rarely heard.

FALSE

The establishment of death studies, in modern times, can be traced to explorations of death by

Freud

The modern scientific approach to the study of death is usually traced to a symposium organized in 1956 by

Herman Feifel

Which of the following BEST describes a "cosmopolitan" society?

Ideas and practices from other historical periods and cultures are values and examined

The text cites the lullaby "Rockabye Baby" to illustrate the point that

a number of lullabies contain messages about human and animal death.

In Erikson's model of psychosocial development, in what period is bodily mutilation and disfigurement one of the death related fears?

initiative vs guit

In reviewing death anxiety research, Robert Kastenbaum says that it

allows individuals to enjoy the illusion that death has been studied.

In literature, the meaning of death is often explored as it relates to the individual as well as

society

Which of the following are included in Ernest Becker's "four strands of emphasis" in terror management theory (TMT)? 1. The world is a terrifying place. 2. There is always an underlying good versus evil struggle, and good ultimately prevails. 3. Because the terror of death is so overwhelming, we conspire to keep it unconscious. 4. The basic motivation for human behavior is the need to control our basic anxiety, to deny the terror of death.

1, 3, and 4

In Gerbner's "mean world syndrome", the symbolic use of death contributes to 1. an irrational dread of dying. 2. diminished vitality. 3. diminished self-direction in life. 4. an increased hoarding of weapons.

1,2 and 3

A mature concept of death involves 1. universality. 2. irreversibility. 3. empiricism. 4. causality.

1,2, and 4

Themes of loss and death are heard in

Classical music, american blues music, laments. (all of the above)

The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a small community arts project started in Washington, D.C.

FALSE

Themes of suicide are uncommon in music today.

FLASE

Which of the following best defines socialization?

Learning and internalizing the norms, rules, and values of the society in which a person lives

What subcomponent of universality makes explicit the understanding not only that all living things die but also that each living thing will die?

Personal mortality

According to Kastenbaum, what is defined as "the study of life with death left in"?

Thanatology

What is the largest ongoing community arts project in America?

The AIDS memorial Quilt

Which of the following BEST describes the phrase "medical technology that seems to one person a godsend, extending life, may seem to another a curse"?

The effect of new technology involves personal and social consequences and trade-offs.

Media experts say that the "reality violence" on TV news began with coverage of the

Vietnam war

Which of the following is NOT an example of Holocaust literature?

Walking skeleton by Richard Shaw

Which answer best reflects children's understandings of John F. Kennedy's assassination?

Younger children worried about the appearance of the president's body and the effects of the death on his family.

Hong Kong

______ has the longest life expectancy of countries worldwide.

According to George Gerbner, the "mean world syndrome" describes depictions of death in the mass media as embedded in a structure of violence that conveys

a heightened sense of danger

A "teachable moment" is one in which

an opportunity for learning arises out of ordinary experiences.

In Japanese homes, an altar for honoring deceased relatives and ancestors is called a

butsudan

According to Ulrich Beck, a German scholar and observer of the "cosmopolitan society," the human condition in the present century

cannot be understood nationally or locally but only globally.

Which of the following is NOT a way in which humor functions relative to death?

discourages empathy

A mature concept of death includes causality, which implies that adults will often blame someone or something for a loved one's death.

false

Anatomy dissections historically have been an activity attended only by surgeons and medical students.

false

Elegies and eulogies are both often inscribed as a memorial on a tomb.

false

Gospel and classical music do not include death themes in their compositions.

false

In the nineteenth century, most people typically purchased coffins and baked homemade desserts to bring to the home of grieving friends.

false

In the nineteenth century, violence in children's stories was downplayed, virtually non-existent, and rarely graphic or gory.

false

Kaddish, the Jewish mourner's prayer, is said in absolute privacy within seven days of the death.

false

Lullabies containing themes of death and violence are seen predominantly in American culture and first appeared as a twentieth century form of mourning songs.

false

Nomadic hunting and gathering tribes, such as the Sioux and Apache, generally express more fear of the dead than do sedentary tribes, such as the Pueblo and Navajo.

false

Non-empirical ideas are subject to strict scientific proof and observation.

false

Nonfunctionality means that your everyday functioning (going to school or work, self-care, etc.) has diminished due to a recent loss.

false

Obituaries are used only in American and European societies.

false

Veterinary schools can provide information on pet cemeteries, burials and cremation, but may not discuss hospice care for pets.

false

According to Kellehear's description and social history of dying, the meaning of death

has changed over time

In discussing how people understand death, the term "noncorporeal continuity" refers to the idea that

human beings survive in some form after the death of the physical body.

Until the nineteenth century, the customary deathbed scene

included family

In Erikson's model, the years from about 6 to the beginning of puberty is sometimes known as the

industrial age

In Erikson's model, the years from about six to the beginning of puberty correspond to what stage?

industry vs inferiority

According to Erik Erikson's theory, during which developmental stage do children increasingly seek their own direction and purpose?

initiative vs guilt

Even when curative treatments have ended, the effort to control circumstances around death and dying so that it comes out "right" is termed

managed death

Depictions of death in the mass media, in which the symbolic use of death contributes to an "irrational dread of dying and thus to a diminished vitality and self-direction in life" is referred to as

mean world syndrome

Which of the following is NOT an example of the dimension of sociological thanatology?

pain and symptom control

All of the following tends to be an important influence on the development of children's attitudes toward death EXCEPT

rising funeral costs

The acquisition of a mature understanding of death is part of the developmental process known as

socialization

While more young people than ever claim no religion, there seems to be a growing interest in

spirituality

What concept describes opportunities for learning that arise out of unplanned or unexpected occurrences?

teachable moments

Popular music devotes significant attention to death.

true

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall is an example of contemporary mourning art.

true

The disruption of survivors' lives, their ensuing grief and coping is generally given little attention in the media.

true

The rapid advancement of technology and social changes has created a "cultural lag."

true

Through socialization, younger members of a society acquire knowledge from older generations.

true

Wilson identified celebrity death as a category of death in country music.

true

In Nordic and Celtic traditions, what is the place of heavenly honor and glory called where fallen heroes are welcomed?

valhalla

Agents of socialization include 1. family and peers. 2. school. 3. employers. 4. religion.

1, 2 & 4

Approximately how much has the average life expectancy in the United States increased since 1900?

30 years

In a study of nursery rhymes, approximately what percentage describe ways in which humans or animals die or are mistreated?

50%

Studies conducted in the early 1940s by Sylvia Anthony showed that children can give general explanations for death by what age?

9 yrs old

Which theorist is associated with the developmental model that emphasizes changes in attitudes toward death during different psychosocial stages?

Erik Erikson

Hannelore Wass observes that the study of death and dying will

Help individuals and societies transcend self interest in favor of concern for others

According to Erikson psychosocial development depends significantly on developing a sense of identity and is linked to the individual's

connectedness and independence

The largest area of empirical research in thanatology is concerned with the measurement of attitudes toward death and dying and more particularly

death anxiety