SOCI 30483 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Fatalism, Openair, Frank Buckles
Death and Dying – Exam 1 – Study Guide
Chapter 1 – As we think about death
1) Historian Philip Aires identified four basic psychological themes in
attitudes towards death, as well as contributions to family life and the
social construction of childhood. Studying death from a historical
perspective and attempting to reconstruct European death attitudes,
Aires found the themes: awareness of the individual, the defense of
society against untamed nature, the belief in an afterlife, and belief in the
existence of evil.
2) Making its impact in the nineteenth century and continuing to dominate
today, the invisible death a sort of denial of death. People would protect
themselves from the knowledge of their imminent death; death was not a
sacred passage or a damnation/evil to fear… instead, it was simply
viewed as medicalized, as a failure of the machine. This thought process
led to spiritual deprivation as people were no longer involved in
transformation during death. The author bluntly addresses our aversion
to death to make the audience realize that death will continue to happen
despite our ignorance… We cannot avoid death, but we can strive to
understand it in order to bring peace and acceptance when it strikes close
to home. Fatalism is a general view of life that believes outcomes are
determined in advance and that there is nothing we can do to affect the
outcomes. Silencer is a term used by communication experts to describe
people who end the discussion before it really begins. An example of this
is a fatalistic statement: “There’s nothing to think about. When your
number’s up, it’s up.”
3) Attitudes describe our action tendencies, for example being ready or not
ready to act or ready to approach or avoid death. Beliefs refer to our
worldview; for example, fatalism is a type of belief that follows the idea
that death is eminent and predetermined. Feelings give us a qualitative
report on our sense of wellbeing; for example, feeling safe or happy or
sad or joyous about death. It is important to remember that people can
share the same belief but vary on feelings; for example two people could
support gun control but one could be personally attached to the belief
through the death of a loved one and sadness and regret that surround
the death while another person could simply believe it is a good idea.
Furthermore, there is a profound experimental difference between people
who have had a personally significant death and those who have not
(those who view death as simply a topic or word); for example people
with no connection to death view it as a concept that actually affects
people whereas people who have been personally affected by death can
better understand/realize what other people are going through (i.e.
support groups). However, loss does not necessarily enhance a person’s
ability to support; not all situations are the same, they vary by time, age,
incident, relationship, etc. An inner relationship with death goes beyond a
basic realization of death and is characterized by a sense of being
dominated or haunted by death. This inner relationship is caused by
experience(s) surrounding death; this can include but is not limited to the
death of many people, unexpected deaths, or the death of a key person in
your life. The inner relationship is influenced not only by death itself, but
by the relationship, the events surrounding the death (i.e. funeral home,
funeral, memorial, etc.), distance apart during death, and how death
occurred.
4) Evasive strategies in reguard to death are found in but not limited to
Tolstyou’s “Death of Ivan Ilych.” The five listed are: 1) Difference between
intellectual knowledge and emotional realization: Even after hearing of
death, it is only physical proof of the corpse that will bring upon the
realization of death and in that moment of realization, you, yourself feel
vulnerable to death. 2) Becoming concerned about yourself rather than
the deceased or the family of the deceased. 3) Although you hope to be
able to walk away from death itself into safety, you are unable to show
your fear of death for yourself; instead, you must show concern for
others. 4) Distorting your logic by differentiating yourself from the
deceased; by pointing out differences, you convince yourself that death
can only come on X type of person and not yourself, because you are
different. 5) After recovering from panic, you discuss death; rather than
focusing on feelings and meanings, you focus on the facts (the details of
“how”); these facts strengthen the barrier and further you from the
deceased. These facts happened to the deceased and have not/will not
happen to you.
5) Situational Death Anxiety is normally abnormal peaks in anxiety linked to
specific situations such as separation, divorce, relationship loss, feelings
of abandonment, etc. Trait anxiety is apprehension and restlessness that
appears in everyday life; this anxiety becomes situational death anxiety
when transitional situations occur that spike death anxiety. Heightened
death anxiety also peaks across many people during times of financial
distress, violent episodes, family separation, etc. This type of anxiety can
cause nightmares, or sudden moments of distress. Sever instances of this
are called PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The pecking order of
death is a term that refers to a person’s belief that they will die next; it is
triggered by the death of a loved one. Extended, life-threatening illnesses
typically produce a first jolt of anxiety (when the illness is
discovered/diagnosed) and can even lead to suicidal thoughts. A second
period of anxiety/depression occurs as the patient experiences continual
physical decline/fatigue; this anxiety is often focused on the fear of
abandonment/suffering rather than death. Other bouts of anxiety can
arise when complications or treatment alterations occur. Anxiety
reduction can, however, be relived with support, communication,
symptom relief, and positive worldviews. Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory
states that people are incapable of fearing their own death because their
unconscious system does not respond to the passage of time and
therefore cannot respond to the end of personal time through death. We
have not actually experienced death, so when we exhibit fear, it is a cover
story. Thanatophobia is described as the expressed fear of death that
serves as a disguise for the actual source of discomfort; therefore, we
should dig until we discover the true fear. Freud believes that
thanatophobia derives from the castration anxiety experienced during
our normally abnormal psychosexual development (the who Oedipus
complex… son loves mother and fears being belittled by father).
Furthermore, the castration-death anxiety theory suggests that the
source of death anxiety is the fear of losing value, love, and security by
being less than a whole person; people losing their sense of security in
the world may generalize confusion and fear as death anxiety. The
Existential Challenge directly contrasts Freud’s theory, purposing that our
awareness of mortality the basic source of anxiety; all fears trace back to
vulnerability and death. In this theory, Becker states that people with
schizophrenia suffer because they don’t have insulation from the fear of
death. Others might share schizophrenic’s panic if our society doesn’t
protect us from ontological confrontation (the awareness that we are
always and acutely mortal). Here, society’s function is to help us maintain
the illusion of continuity (all life will go on and on); this is enforced
through rituats/symbols that produce coherence, predictability, and
meaning. This illusion is bought into by many looking for comfort,
wanting to be a part of something bigger. Becker’s terror management
theory suggest we try to control our death anxieties by socially
sanctioned evasions/fantasies. There are to facets to this strategy: Keep
up our own self-esteem and become an integral part of an entity greater
than ourselves; these can be achieved through religion or through
personal confidence. Terror management theory focuses on
strengthening people’s self-esteem in order to decrease death anxiety.
This theory has several concerns: arousing discomfort in usual suspects
(college students) who respond (to the questions asking respondents to
describe their thoughts and feelings… questions aimed to arouse mortal
terror) and assumes society is devoted fully to the amelioration of death
anxiety. The most pervasive feeling associated with death was sorrow…
This theory helps the most when integrated into a broader understanding
of how people respond to death threats. Edge Theory distinguishes
between our everyday low level of death anxiety and the dangerous
situations in which it is aroused. The experience of death anxiety is the
self-awareness side of a complex organismic response to danger. Anxiety
has a survival function. We have survival and adaptation functions, the
ability to detect sources of potential harm both through built-in bio
mechanisms and through the development of cognitive and social skills.
We shouldn’t be fearful, we should be effective; there is nothing wrong
with dying in a fire but we do have the capability to exit the building and
avoid the danger. Whatever reduces your everyday stress level is likely to
improve our ability to detect/respond to actual threats; a relaxed attitude
Document Summary
Death and dying exam 1 study guide. Chapter 1 as we think about death: historian philip aires identified four basic psychological themes in attitudes towards death, as well as contributions to family life and the social construction of childhood. Studying death from a historical perspective and attempting to reconstruct european death attitudes, People would protect themselves from the knowledge of their imminent death; death was not a viewed as medicalized, as a failure of the machine. This thought process led to spiritual deprivation as people were no longer involved in transformation during death. When your number"s up, it"s up. (cid:499) understand it in order to bring peace and acceptance when it strikes close to home. Fatalism is a general view of life that believes outcomes are determined in advance and that there is nothing we can do to affect the outcomes. Silencer is a term used by communication experts to describe people who end the discussion before it really begins.
