CT Death Anxiety & Psychology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which defense mechanism do people most commonly use to manage death anxiety according to Terror Management Theory?
- Sublimation
- Cultural worldview affirmation (Correct answer)
- Regression
- Projection
Correct answer: Cultural worldview affirmation
Terror Management Theory holds that people buffer death anxiety by affirming their cultural worldviews, which provide a sense of meaning and symbolic immortality.
Question 2: The concept of 'ontological security' in the context of death anxiety refers to:
- Legal protections around end-of-life decisions
- A stable sense of self that allows one to function despite awareness of mortality (Correct answer)
- Financial security reducing existential worry
- Physical safety from life-threatening situations
Correct answer: A stable sense of self that allows one to function despite awareness of mortality
Ontological security, associated with Anthony Giddens, refers to the stable sense of identity and meaning that allows individuals to tolerate existential threats including death awareness.
Question 3: In Kübler-Ross's framework, which stage is most directly associated with confronting one's own mortality and existential despair?
- Denial
- Anger
- Bargaining
- Depression (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Depression
The depression stage in Kübler-Ross's model reflects the person's direct confrontation with the reality and finality of impending death, often involving deep existential sadness.
Question 4: A patient with high death anxiety frequently asks their care team for unnecessary procedures 'just to be safe.' This behavior best illustrates:
- Maladaptive coping through medical reassurance-seeking (Correct answer)
- Appropriate health advocacy
- Secondary gain behavior
- Somatic symptom disorder
Correct answer: Maladaptive coping through medical reassurance-seeking
Repeated requests for unnecessary procedures to quell death fears represent maladaptive reassurance-seeking, a common behavioral manifestation of high death anxiety.
Question 5: Which instrument specifically assesses multidimensional aspects of death anxiety including fear of dying, fear of the dead, and fear of being destroyed?
- Death Attitude Profile-Revised
- Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (Correct answer)
- Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale
- Death Anxiety Scale
Correct answer: Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale
The Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale (MFODS) by Hoelter measures eight distinct dimensions of death fear, making it one of the most comprehensive instruments available.
Question 6: Posttraumatic growth following a near-death experience most directly challenges which psychological perspective?
- Terror Management Theory's view of death as a purely negative force (Correct answer)
- Attachment theory's models of separation
- Psychoanalytic theory of id impulses
- Behaviorist conditioning models of fear
Correct answer: Terror Management Theory's view of death as a purely negative force
Posttraumatic growth demonstrates that confronting mortality can lead to positive transformation, challenging TMT's framing of death awareness as solely a source of existential dread.
Question 7: A thanatologist notices that a dying client avoids all conversation about death while insisting they will recover. According to Weisman, this is best described as:
- Middle knowledge
- First-order denial (Correct answer)
- Appropriate death
- Existential plight
Correct answer: First-order denial
Weisman's 'first-order denial' refers to outright rejection of the terminal diagnosis itself, the most basic layer of denial in his three-order model.
CT Death Anxiety & Psychology 2
Which defense mechanism do people most commonly use to manage death anxiety according to Terror Management Theory?