PSY 456- Chapter 1

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

*political decision making* geographic mobility medical technology life expectancy

What has been called the "oil of society?"

Humor

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

Ideas and practices from other historical period and culture are valued and examined

What is the form of speech acknowledging the reality of death while distancing us from the dead, for example, "He was fond of music?"

Indicative voice

Identify the functions of death-related humor.

It raises our consciousness about a taboo subject and gives us way to talk about it. it presents an opportunity to rise above sadness, providing release from pain and promoting a sense of control over a traumatic situation, even if we cannot change it humor is a great leveler; it treats everyone alike and send the message that there are no exemptions from the human predicament. It binds us together and encourages a sense of intimacy, which helps us face the unknown and distressing. Can be a social glue that helps us emphasize with others

______ has the longest life expectancy of countries worldwide

Japan

Hibakusha

A Japanese word meaning explosion affected

What is the largest ongoing community arts project in America?

The AIDS Memorial Quilt

The influence of the Internet has become so significant in conveying death related information that it is only rightful to conclude that

The Internet and World Wide Web have become part of the modern death system

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

True

Themes of loss and death are heard in

classical music American blues music laments *all of the above*

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

death anxiety

Brief standardized printed statements following the death of an average citizen are called

death notices

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", us an example of

euphemisms

Hannelore Wass observes that the study of death and dying will

help individuals and societies transcend self-interest in such obscure subjects

A complex set of collaborations between linguistic and nonlinguistic representations and processes is called

thinking

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

managed death

A feature length story on the death of someone famous is a/an

obituary

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. 1,3,4

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-directtion in life 4. an increased hoarding of weapons 1,2,3

Which of the following are considered dimensions of thanatology?

1. psychological 2. anthropological 3. political 4. rational 1,2,3

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

30 years

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

Freud

What are the two leading causes of death in the US?

Heart disease and cancer

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

Herman Feifel

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

Research about death anxiety indicates that it tends to be higher among

black than whites females than males

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