Book contents
- Facing Death Across Cultures
- Facing Death Across Cultures
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction to a Cultural Species
- Module 1 The Basic Psychological Components of Culture
- Module 2 Becoming Human
- Module 3 Acculturation
- Module 4 Multicultural Adaptation
- Module 5 Health and Well-Being
- Module 6 Disease and Healing
- Module 7 Diversity and the Conventional Medical World
- Module 8 Thinking about Death
- Module 9 Managing Mortality and Difficult Passages
- Module 10 Cultures Approach the End
- Module 11 Critical and End-of-Life Care
- Module 12 Culture, Passages, and Psychosocial Supports
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Module 8 - Thinking about Death
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2025
- Facing Death Across Cultures
- Facing Death Across Cultures
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction to a Cultural Species
- Module 1 The Basic Psychological Components of Culture
- Module 2 Becoming Human
- Module 3 Acculturation
- Module 4 Multicultural Adaptation
- Module 5 Health and Well-Being
- Module 6 Disease and Healing
- Module 7 Diversity and the Conventional Medical World
- Module 8 Thinking about Death
- Module 9 Managing Mortality and Difficult Passages
- Module 10 Cultures Approach the End
- Module 11 Critical and End-of-Life Care
- Module 12 Culture, Passages, and Psychosocial Supports
- Glossary
- References
- Index
Summary
Module 8 turns to discussion of death from academic and cultural perspectives. Our approaches and responses to mortality are shaped by our worldview and cognitive style, but everyone has some response when we are reminded of death. Generally, our fear of personal death is somewhat alleviated by identification with our cultures and traditions. Terror Management Theory (TMT) provides an explanatory model for ways people accommodate their fears and anxieties around death. TMT proposes that all culture defends us from existential terror, whether by soothing our fears or distracting us from death’s immediacy. Ultimately, people everywhere want whatever they consider to be a good death, which often, but not always, includes a lack of pain and connection to loved ones.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Facing Death Across CulturesHealth and Mortality in a Diverse World, pp. 150 - 174Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025