Psych. 456 - Chap. 1, 3, 5
The modern scientific approach to the study of death is usually traced to a symposium organized in 1956 by:
Herman Feifel.
__________ has the longest life expectancy of countries worldwide.
Hong Kong
Which of the following BEST describes a "cosmopolitan" society?
Ideas and practices from other historical periods and cultures are valued and examined.
In Japanese ancestral rites, where are the ashes of family members interred?
In the haka
The ofrenda, found in Mexican culture, can be likened to the:
Japanese butsudan.
When did burials begin to take place in cemeteries not associated with churches?
About the time of the Renaissance
Which of the following is NOT a way in which humor functions relative to death?
Discourages empathy
What is the fallacy of making judgments about others in terms of one's own cultural assumptions and ideas?
Ethnocentrism
A death café is an online blog started in Europe to help recently widowed men.
False
A euphemism is a shorthand way of referring to an exciting event.
False
Anatomy dissections historically have been an activity attended only by surgeons and medical students.
False
Currently, across the United States, there are fewer than 500 federally recognized Native American nations, few of which share a common set of values, beliefs, and traditions.
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 American blues music, themes of loss, separation, and tribulation are rarely heard.
False
In many cultures worldwide, the final place to spread ashes and worldly goods of the deceased is called the "Island of the Dead."
False
In the nineteenth century, most people typically purchased coffins and baked homemade desserts to bring to the home of grieving friends.
False
Kaddish, the Jewish mourner's prayer, is said in absolute privacy within seven days of the death.
False
Mexican culture exhibits few symbols of death.
False
Mourning rituals are intended not to help cope with one's own mortality, but rather to cope with the deaths of others.
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
Obituaries are used only in American and European societies.
False
People who describe themselves as religious suffer more death anxiety than their non-religious counterparts.
False
The Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a small community arts project started in Washington, D.C.
False
The ofrenda is the gathering place where friends meet following a Mexican funeral.
False
Themes of suicide are uncommon in music today.
False
Which of the following is NOT an example of the dimension of sociological thanatology?
Pain and symptom control
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 3
Chapter 3
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?
Cultural lag
What can be defined as "all that in human society which is socially rather than biologically transmitted"?
Culture
In Celtic traditions, what is the term for the breach in time when supernatural communication with gods as well as the dead could take place?
Samhain
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.
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
For the Japanese, it is quite ordinary to talk to their dead ancestors.
True
Historically, the Celts practiced burial and cremation.
True
Hopi funeral rituals are attended by few people and held privately.
True
Islam calls for the burial of the deceased as soon as possible.
True
Popular music devotes significant attention to death.
True
The Lakota battle cry "It is a good day to die" expresses the belief that one lives with purpose, grateful for life's blessings, with awareness it could all end abruptly.
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
The tomb of a Celtic chieftain contained enough bronze dishes and drinking horns to accommodate nine people, a number considered ideal for a drinking party.
True
Uilleann pipes are included in funeral processions held for firefighters killed in the line of duty.
True
Wilson identified celebrity death as a category of death in country music.
True
Word choices may reflect changes in how death is experienced at different times.
True
In Nordic and Celtic traditions, what is the place of heavenly honor and glory called where fallen heroes are welcomed?
Valhalla
Media experts say that the "reality violence" on TV news began with coverage of the:
Vietnam War.
Which was a turning point in the "medicalization" of death and dying?
WWI
Which of the following is NOT an example of Holocaust literature?
Walking Skeleton by Richard Shaw
Death songs of Native Americans are:
a summary of a person's life.
Themes of loss and death are heard in:
all of the above: - classical music. - American blues music. - laments
In reviewing death anxiety research, Robert Kastenbaum says that it:
allows individuals to enjoy the illusion that death has been studied.
Día de los Muertos is:
an occasion for remembering the dead.
According to historian Philippe Ariès, during the period of "tamed death," death was viewed as:
an ordinary human experience.
Humanity received its name from the Latin root word humare, which means to:
bury
In Japanese homes, an altar for honoring deceased relatives and ancestors is called a:
butsudan.
The largest area of empirical research in thanatology is concerned with the measurement of attitudes toward death and dying and more particularly:
death anxiety.
In Celtic societies, the intermediary between the world of humankind and the domain of the supernatural was a:
druid.
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.
According to Kellehear's description and social history of dying, the meaning of death:
has changed over time.
In traditional societies, whether grief is expressed by loud wails or quiet tears, there is a common tendency to:
have a deep respect for the soul of the dead.
In 1963, the University of Minnesota:
held the first formal course in death education.
The traditional African attitude towards death is essentially:
positive because it is part of the totality of life.
Human concern for the dead:
predates written history.
Hannelore Wass observes that the study of death and dying will:
help individuals and societies transcend self-interest in favor of concern for others.
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.
As part of Día de los Muertos, families go to the panteon to __________:
prepare for the return of their dead.
The Dance of Death:
reflects ideas about the inevitability of death.
In many traditional societies communication with the dead is facilitated by a:
shaman
Research into death anxiety has been characterized by Kastenbaum as:
thanatology's own assembly 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.
Día de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead, blends Catholic, Spanish, and Indian rituals. This celebration exemplifies an attitude toward death that:
views death in an open, humorous, ironic manner.
The rural cemetery movement began in the United States:
in the 1830s.
Until the nineteenth century, the customary deathbed scene:
included family.
Around the twelfth century, simple grave markers began to appear as did elaborate effigies. This was as part of increasing emphasis on:
individualism.
One aspect of an "invisible death" is that death is:
less part of common experience.
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.
Referring to a deceased individual as "that one" is an example of:
name avoidance.
Which of the following are common in the practice of the traditional form of recuerdo? 1. Tells the story of a person's life in a heroic manner 2. Is presented as a written narrative or ballad 3. Funeral is referred to as a "home-going" or "adios" ceremony honoring the spirit of the deceased 4. Gathering at the gravesite to bid godspeed to the deceased
1 and 2
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
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
Approximately how much has the average life expectancy in the United States increased since 1900?:
30 years.
Data from 2009 reveals __________ percent of Medicare beneficiaries died at home.
33.5
In general, Native Americans view death as:
a normal part of the life cycle
What term is best used to describe African customs such as prayer, sacrifice or libation, and other acts of respect shown to deceased members of the community?
Ancestor worship
The establishment of death studies, in modern times, can be traced to explorations of death by:
Freud
What are the two leading causes of death in the United States?
Heart disease and cancer
The danse macabre was originally a reaction to fear of death caused by an epidemic of:
Plague
Which of the following factors does NOT affect our familiarity with death?
Political decision making
In traditional Hindu households, death is __________
a communal affair.
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.
In Japanese funeral rituals, all of the following rites are held EXCEPT the:
belongings of the deceased are buried with the body.
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.
Epidemiologic transition is BEST defined as the:
shift in disease patterns characterized by a redistribution of deaths from the young to the old.
In literature, the meaning of death is often explored as it relates to the individual as well as:
society
