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1 results

  • Module 8 - Thinking about Death

  • Stephen Henry Fox, University of Hawaii
  • Book:
    Facing Death Across Cultures
    Published online:
    20 February 2025
    Print publication:
    27 February 2025, pp 150-174

  • 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.