Measuring Fear of Death

In the research literature on death and dying, two assumptions are often made: 1) the prospect of death is universally anxiety-provoking and 2) death fear is a unidimensional construct. In order to explore the veracity of these assumptions, participants were shown a film designed to manipulate fear of death. Scores on a trait and a state measure of death fear were related to belief in an afterlife and response latencies to death words and neutral words in a word association test. While a previous finding linking increased belief in afterlife with a death-threat situation was not supported, it was found that high scores on the Templer fear of death scale were correlated with longer response latencies to death than to neutral words on the word association test. This indicates a positive association between a “direct” and “indirect” measure of fear of death, undermining the commonly held assumption that low scores on a fear of death scale are indicative of repression. Moreover, since fear of death was seen to increase in the experimental group (according to a state measure), while no change was observed on the Templer fear of death scale (a trait measure), this suggests that death fear is not a unidimensional construct

Afterlife · Anxiety · Association (psychology · Construct (python library · Death anxiety · Fear of death · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Scale (ratio · Trait · Clinical Psychology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychology · Social Psychology

• Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Agents' Minds

  Jesse M Bering•Journal of Cognition and Culture•2002

  Incluir item

• What Lies Beyond

  Christopher T Burris, Keehan Bailey•International Journal for the…•2009

  Incluir item

• Intuitive Conceptions of Dead Persons' Mentality

  Junwei Huang, Lehua Cheng et al.•International Journal for the…•2012

  Incluir item

• The Construction of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (Moddi-F)

  Joachim Wittkowski•Death Studies•2001

  Incluir item

• Predictors of Fear of Death and Self-Mortality

  Trinda L Power, Steven Smith•Death Studies•2008

  Incluir item

• Single- Versus Multi-Item Scales in Measuring Death Anxiety

  Ahmed M Abdel-Khalek•Death Studies•1998

  Incluir item

• Predicting Performance and Persistence in Hospice Volunteers

  Open Access•Beny Lafer, Barbara Lafer•Psychological Reports•1989

  Incluir item

• Dreams and Death

  Open Access•Kelly Cookson•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•1990

  Incluir item

• Is there a Relationship between Death Anxiety and Engagement in Lethal Behaviors among African-American Students

  Open Access•Allison Cotton•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•1997

  Incluir item

• Levels of Death Anxiety in Terminally Ill Men

  Open Access•Bert Hayslip, Debra D Luhr et al.•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•1992

  Incluir item

• A Comparison of Death Anxiety and Denial in Death-Risk and Death-Exposure Occupations

  Open Access•Jean G Lewis, Patricia Espe‐Pfeifer et al.•OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying•2000

  Incluir item

• The Fear of Death and the Fear of Dying

  Lora-Jean Collett, David Lester•The Journal of Psychology•1969

  Incluir item

• Who's afraid of death?

  Herman Feifel, Allan B Branscomb•Journal of Abnormal Psychology•1973

  Incluir item

• Psychological Perspectives on Death

  Robert Kastenbaum, Paul T Costa•Annual Review of Psychology•1977

  Incluir item

• Perceptual Defensiveness and Death Anxiety

  Open Access•Stephen Fleming, S J FLEMING•Psychological Reports•1977

  Incluir item

• Anxiety and Two Cognitive Forms of Resistance to the Idea of Death

  Open Access•Stephen L Golding, George E Atwood et al.•Psychological Reports•1966

  Incluir item

• The Construction and Validation of a Death Anxiety Scale

  Donald I Templer•The Journal of General Psychology•1970

  Incluir item

• Effect of induced fear of death on belief in afterlife

  Michael Osarchuk, Sherman J Tatz•Journal of Personality and Social…•1973

  Incluir item

• Experimental and correlational studies of the fear of death

  David Lester•Psychological Bulletin•1967

  Incluir item