This document discusses various topics related to moral development, religion, and end of life issues. It begins by defining moral development and describing Kohlberg's stages of moral development. It then discusses moral thought, behavior, feeling, personality, and contexts of moral development including parenting and schools. It also covers prosocial and antisocial behavior, values, religion/spirituality across the lifespan, and concepts of meaning in life.

1. PSY 375:
LIFE-SPAN
DEVELOPMENT
Moral Development,
& Religion/
End of Life Topics
Week 13

2. WHAT IS MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
Moral development involves changes in thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors regarding standards of
right and wrong
• Intrapersonal dimension regulates a person’s activities
when not engaged in social interaction
• Interpersonal dimension regulates social interactions and
arbitrates conflict

3. WHAT IS MORAL DEVELOPMENT?
To understand moral development, we need to
consider five basic questions:
• How do individuals reason or think about moral
decisions?
• How do individuals actually behave in moral
circumstances?
• How do individuals feel about moral matters?
• What characterizes an individual’s moral personality?
• How is the moral domain different from social
conventional and personal domains?

4. MORAL THOUGHT: KOHLBERG
Kohlberg proposed six stages of moral
development that are universal
• Development from one to the next is fostered by
opportunities to take the perspective of others and to
experience conflict
• Kohlberg developed his stages through interviews in
which children are presented with a series of stories in
which characters face moral dilemmas
• He noted that interaction is a critical part of the social
stimulation that challenges children to change their moral
reasoning

5. KOHLBERG’S STAGES

6. MORAL THOUGHT: KOHLBERG’S
CRITICS
Some key criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory:
• Too much emphasis on moral thought, and not enough
on moral behavior
• Where Kohlberg suggests moral thinking is deliberative,
Haidt suggests it is more often an intuitive reaction
• Where Kohlberg suggests emotion has negative effects
on moral reasoning, evidence indicates emotions play an
important role
• Some critics claim the theory is culturally biased
• Too much emphasis on peer relations and not enough on
family

7. MORAL THOUGHT: KOHLBERG’S
CRITICS
Gilligan: Kohlberg’s theory is based on male norms
that put abstract principles above relationships and
concern for others
• Heart of morality in Kohlberg’s theory is a justice
perspective
• Care perspective emphasizes connectedness with
others, interpersonal communication, social
relationships, and concern for others
• Girls consistently interpret moral dilemmas in terms of
human relationships, basing interpretations on listening
and watching other people

8. MORAL THOUGHT: PIAGET
Piaget proposed a series of stages in development
From 4 to 7 years of age, children display
heteronomous morality—they think of justice and rules
as unchangeable, removed from people’s control
• Judge the goodness of a behavior by considering its
consequences, not the intentions of the actor
• Believe in immanent justice: that if a rule is broken,
punishment will be immediate; a violation is automatically
connected to it’s punishment, and if something unfortunate
happened, the person must have transgressed

9. MORAL THOUGHT: PIAGET 2
At 7 to 10 years, children transition, showing some
features of the first stage and some of the next
From about 10 years and older, children show
autonomous morality—they are aware that rules and
laws are created by people, and in judging action,
consider both intentions and consequences
• Recognize punishment occurs only if someone witnesses the
wrongdoing, and punishment is not inevitable
Children’s thinking becomes more sophisticated
through the give-and-take of peer relations

10. MORAL BEHAVIOR
Processes of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation
affect how individuals learn moral behavior
• Effectiveness of reward and punishment depends on
the consistency and timing
• Effectiveness of modeling depends on the characteristics of
the model and the cognitive skills of the observer
Behavior is situationally dependent
• Individuals do not consistently display moral behavior
in different situations
Resistance to temptation and self-control are key

11. MORAL BEHAVIOR:
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
Social cognitive theory of morality emphasizes a
distinction between moral competence and moral
performance
• Moral competence: the cognitive ability to construct and
perform moral behaviors
• Moral performance: actual behavior, determined by
motivation and rewards and incentives
Moral development is best understood by
considering a combination of social and cognitive
factors
• Especially those involving self-control

12. MORAL FEELING: EMPATHY
Empathy: an affective response to another’s
feelings with an emotional response that is similar
to the other person’s feelings
• Emotional state with a cognitive component—the ability
of perspective-taking, discerning the inner psychological
states of others
In early childhood, children respond appropriately
to others’ distress

13. Age Period Nature of Empathy
Early infancy Characterized by global empathy, the young infant’s empathic
response does not distinguish between feelings and needs of self
and others.
1 to 2 years
of age
Undifferentiated feelings of discomfort at another’s distress grow
into more genuine feelings of concern, but infants cannot translate
realization of others’ unhappy feelings into effective action.
Early childhood Children become aware that every person’s perspective is unique
and that someone else may have a different reaction to a
situation. This awareness allows the child to respond more
appropriately to another person’s distress.
10 to 12 years
of age
Children develop an emergent orientation of empathy for people
who live in unfortunate circumstances—the poor, the
handicapped, and the socially outcast. In adolescence, this
newfound sensitivity may give a humanitarian flavor to the
individual’s ideological and political views.

14. MORAL FEELING: EMPATHY
Many contemporary developmentalists believe positive
and negative feelings contribute to children’s moral
development
• When strongly experienced, emotions influence children to act
in accord with standards of right or wrong
• Prosocial behavior is motivated by sympathy: an other-
oriented emotional response in which one observes the same
or similar emotion as the other person is feeling
Empathy, shame, guilt, and anxiety regarding other
people’s violations are present early in development

15. MORAL PERSONALITY
Moral identity: an aspect of personality that is
present when individuals have moral notions and
commitments central to their lives
• Behaving in a manner that violates this moral
commitment places integrity of the self at risk

16. MORAL PERSONALITY

17. MORAL CHARACTER
Moral character: having the strength of your
convictions, persisting, and overcoming
distractions and obstacles
Among the moral virtues people emphasize:
• Honesty, truthfulness, and trustworthiness
• Care, compassion, thoughtfulness, and considerateness
• Dependability, loyalty, and conscientiousness

18. MORAL EXEMPLARS
Moral exemplars: people who have lived
exemplary lives
• Moral personality, identity, character, and virtues that
reflect moral excellence and commitment

19. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: PARENTING
Adult mentors provide lessons about morality in
everyday experiences
Among the most important aspects of the
relationship between parents and children that
contribute to moral development:
• Relational quality
• Proactive strategies
• Conversational dialogue

20. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: PARENTING
Parents who adopt the following approaches are more
likely to have children who behave morally:
• Warm and supportive, using inductive reasoning and an
authoritative parenting style
• Non-punitive; do not use withdrawal as discipline
• Help children learn about others’ perspectives and feelings
• Involve children in decision making and thinking about moral
decisions
• Model moral behaviors and thinking
• Provide information about what is expected and why
• Foster an internal sense of morality
• Help children understand and regulate negative emotion

21. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOLS

22. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOLS
Hidden curriculum: conveyed by the moral
atmosphere that is part of every school
• Created by school and classroom rules, the orientation of
teachers and administrators, and text materials
Character education: a direct education approach
that involves teaching students a basic moral
literacy
• Prevent them from engaging in immoral behavior and
doing harm to themselves or others

23. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOLS
Service learning: a form of education that promotes
social responsibility and service to the community
• Goal is for adolescents to become less self-centered and more
strongly motivated to help others
• Service learning programs are more effective when:
• Students are given some degree of choice in the service activities in
which they participate
• Students are provided opportunities to reflect about their
participation
• Service learning benefits include higher grades in school,
increased goal setting, higher self-esteem, an enhanced
sense of empowerment, and an increased likelihood of
volunteering in the future

24. CONTEXTS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT: SCHOOLS

25. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Altruism: unselfish interest and voluntary effort in
helping another person
Reciprocity: the obligation to return a favor
• Pervades human interaction worldwide and may motivate
important prosocial behaviors, including sharing
• Sharing in the first 3 years is done for nonempathetic
reasons
• By the start of elementary school, children begin to
express more complicated notions of fairness, including
equality, merit, and benevolence

26. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Prosocial behavior increases in adolescence,
possibly due to cognitive advances

27. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Two other aspects of prosocial behavior are
forgiveness and gratitude
• Forgiveness: an aspect of prosocial behavior occurring
when an injured person releases the injurer from possible
behavioral retaliation
• Forgiveness can be swayed by peer pressure
• Gratitude: a feeling of thankfulness and appreciation,
especially in response to kindness or helpfulness
• Gratitude is linked to a number of positive outcomes for
adolescents, including fewer depressive symptoms

28. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Gender differences exist in prosocial behavior
• Across childhood and adolescence, females engage in
more prosocial behavior
• Largest gender difference occurs for kind and
considerate behavior, with a smaller difference for
sharing
Older adults benefit from participating in altruistic
behavior and volunteering
• Associated with a number of positive outcomes

29. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR
Conduct disorder: age-inappropriate actions and
attitudes that violate family expectations, society’s
norms, and the personal or property rights of
others
• Children with conduct problems show a wide range of
rule-violating behaviors
• Most children and youth break the rules from time to
time, but most show a decrease in antisocial behavior
from
4 to 18 years of age
• About 5% show serious conduct problems, best
explained by a confluence of risk factors operating over
time

30. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Juvenile delinquency: actions taken by an adolescent
in breaking the law or engaging in illegal behavior
• Official records do not accurately reflect the number of illegal
acts committed by juvenile delinquents
• They show only those who have been caught and judged
guilty by a court of law
• An estimated 2% or more of all youth are involved in juvenile
court cases
• Among both males and females, rates for property offenses
are higher than rates for other offenses
• Far more males than females are arrested for delinquency

31. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
As adolescents become emerging adults, rates of
delinquency and crime change somewhat
• Theft, property damage, and physical aggression
decrease from 18 to 26 years of age
• Peak ages for property damage are 16 through 18 for
males and 15 through 17 for females
• Peak ages for violence are 18 through 19 for males and
19 through 21 for females

32. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Early-onset antisocial behavior (before age 11) is
associated with more negative developmental
outcomes than late-onset (after age 11)
• More likely to persist into emerging adulthood
• Associated with more mental health and relationship
problems
Developmental pathways to delinquency:
• Authority conflict
• Covert
• Overt

33. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Many causes of delinquency have been proposed
• Heredity, identity problems, community influences, and
family experiences
• For some, delinquency may be an attempt to establish an
identity
• Poverty

34. ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR:
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY
Family characteristics associated with delinquency:
• Less skill in discouraging antisocial behavior and in
encouraging skilled behavior
• Lower parental monitoring and control
• Family discord and inconsistent/inappropriate discipline
Other associated factors:
• Influence of siblings and peers
• Lack of success in school
• Cognitive factors, such as low self-control, low intelligence,
poor decision making, ineffective social information
processing, and lack of sustained attention

35. VALUES
Values: beliefs and attitudes about the way things
should be
• One method of assessing values is asking people what
their goals are
• For example, college students today show increased
concern for personal well-being and decreased concern
for others’ well-being, especially the disadvantaged
• Today’s college freshmen are also more strongly
motivated to be well-off financially, and less motivated to
develop a meaningful philosophy of life

36. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY
Religion: an organized set of beliefs, practices, rituals,
and symbols that increase an individual’s connection
to sacred or transcendent other
Religiousness: the degree of affiliation with an
organized religion, participation in its prescribed rituals
and practices, connection with its beliefs, and
involvement in a community of believers
Spirituality: experiencing something beyond oneself in
a transcendent manner and living in a way that
benefits others and society

37. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE, AND
EMERGING ADULTHOOD
Societies use many methods of religious socialization
to ensure people will carry on a religious tradition
In general, individuals tend to adopt the religious
teachings of their upbringing
Although religious issues are important to many
adolescents, religious interest among adolescents
declined during the twenty-first century
Emerging adults in less developed countries are more
likely to be religious than their counterparts

38. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
CHILDHOOD, ADOLESCENCE, AND
EMERGING ADULTHOOD
As part of identity development, adolescents and
emerging adults grapple with issues of religious belief
and their religious or spiritual identity
One area of religion’s influence is sexual activity
Aspects of religion are linked with positive outcomes
• Religion plays a role in health and influences problem behaviors
• Religiosity links positively to well-being, self-esteem, and three
of the Big Five personality traits
• Many religious adolescents also adopt religion’s message about
caring and concern for people

39. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
ADULTHOOD AND AGING
More than 70% of U.S. individuals consider
themselves religious and spirituality to be a major
part of their lives
Of Americans polled in 2008:
• 92% believe in God
• 75% pray at least weekly
• 58% pray every day
• 56% say religion is very important
• Had dropped to 50% in a similar poll in 2015
• 39% attend religious services at least weekly

40. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
ADULTHOOD AND AGING
Females have consistently shown a stronger interest
in religion than males
• Participate more in organized and personal forms of religion,
are more likely to believe in a higher power, and are more
likely to feel religion is an important dimension in their lives
• Why?
African Americans and Latinos show higher rates
of religious participation than non-Latino white
Americans
Influence of religion in people’s lives may change as
they develop

41. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
ADULTHOOD AND AGING
In many world societies, older adults are spiritual
leaders in churches and communities
Individuals over 65 years old are more likely than
younger people to:
• Say religious faith is a significant influence in their lives
• Try to put religious faith into practice
• Attend religious services
Religion has been linked with life satisfaction and
well-being among older adults

42. RELIGION AND SPIRITUALITY:
ADULTHOOD AND AGING
Religion can meet important psychological needs
in older adults
• Facing impending death
• Finding and maintaining a sense of meaningfulness in life
• Accepting the inevitable losses of old age
Religious communities can serve many functions
for older adults
• Providing social activities, social support, and
opportunities to teach and assume leadership roles

43. MEANING IN LIFE
In writing about meaning in life, Frankl suggested
the three most distinct human qualities are
spirituality, freedom, and responsibility

44. MEANING IN LIFE
Baumeister and Vohs argue there are four main
needs that guide how people try to make sense of
their lives
• Need for purpose—both goals and fulfillments
• Need for values—Frankl’s view emphasized value as the
main form of meaning that people need
• Need for a sense of efficacy—the belief they can make a
difference and control their environment
• Need for self-worth—pursued individually or collectively

45. What is Death?

46. The Death System and
Its Cultural Variations
Forms of death avoidance and denial in the U.S.:
• Funeral industry glosses over death and fashions lifelike
qualities in the dead
• Adoption of euphemistic language for death that
implies forever
• Persistent search for a fountain of youth
• Rejection and isolation of the aged, who may remind us
of death
• Adoption of the concept of a pleasant and rewarding
afterlife, suggesting that we are immortal
• Medical community’s emphasis on prolonging biological
life instead of diminishing human suffering

47. Changing Historical Circumstances
Death occurs most often among older adults
• In the past, most people in the U.S. died at home, cared
for by family
Larger number of older adults today die apart from
their families
• More than 80% of deaths occur in institutions or
hospitals
• Minimizes exposure to death and painful surroundings

48. Defining Death and Life/Death Issues
In past, the end of certain biological functions were
considered clear signs of death
• Breathing, blood pressure, rigidity of body (rigor mortis)
Brain death: a neurological definition of death
• Person is brain dead when all electrical activity of the brain
ceases for a specific period of time
• Higher brain regions may die but lower portions may allow for
continued breathing and a heartbeat
• Current definition of among most physicians includes death of
both the higher cortical functions and the lower brain stem
functions
• Case study

49. Decisions Regarding Life, Death, and
Health Care
Advance care planning is the process of patients
thinking about and communicating their
preferences for end-of-life care
Laws in all 50 states now accept an advance
directive, such as a living will
• Advanced directive states preferences such as whether
life-sustaining procedures may be used to prolong life
• Living will: designed to be completed while the individual
can still think clearly
 Expresses desires regarding extraordinary medical procedures
that may sustain life when medical situation becomes hopeless

50. Decisions Regarding Life, Death, and
Health Care
Euthanasia: the act of painlessly ending the lives
of individuals who are suffering from an incurable
disease or severe disability
• Passive euthanasia: when a person is allowed to die by
withholding available treatment, such as withdrawing a
life-sustaining device
• Active euthanasia: when death is deliberately induced, as
when a legal dose of a drug is injected
• Current trend is toward acceptance of passive euthanasia
in the case of terminally ill patients

51. Decisions Regarding Life, Death, and
Health Care
“Assisted suicide” is now legal in six countries
• It is illegal in all U.S. states except Oregon, Washington,
Montana, New Mexico, and Vermont
• Those in favor of euthanasia argue death should be calm
and dignified, not full of suffering
• Those against euthanasia stress it is murder; and many
religious individuals say it is against God’s will
Too often, death in America is lonely, prolonged,
and painful
• Many health-care professionals have not been trained to
provide adequate end-of-life care

52. Decisions Regarding Life, Death, and
Health Care
Care providers are increasingly interested in
helping individuals experience a “good death”
• Physical comfort, support from loved ones, acceptance,
and appropriate medical care
Hospice: a program committed to making the end
of life as free from pain, anxiety, and depression as
possible
• Emphasizes palliative care—reducing pain and suffering
and helping individuals die with dignity
• Today many hospice programs are home-based

53. A Developmental Perspective on Death
In the United States, deaths of older adults account
for approximately two-thirds of the 2 million
deaths that occur each year
• What is known about death, dying, and grieving is mainly
based on information about older adults
• Youthful death is much less common

54. Causes of Death
Death can occur at any point in the life span
• In infancy, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• In childhood, death occurs most often due to accidents or
illness
 Major illnesses that cause death in children: heart disease,
cancer, birth defects
• Death in adolescence is most likely to occur because of
motor vehicle accidents, homicide, or suicide
• Older adults are more likely to die from chronic diseases
 Often incapacitated before death, producing a long course of
dying
• Many young and middle-aged adults die of illnesses such
as heart disease and cancer

55. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points in the Life Span
Age influences the way death is thought about and
experienced
Mature, adult-like conception of death includes:
• Understanding that death is final and irreversible
• Death represents the end of life
• All living things die

56. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Childhood
Infants experience brief separations as total losses
• Loss of a parent can negatively affect an infant’s health
In early childhood, children have little or no idea
what death means
• Confuse death with sleep or ask, “Why doesn’t it move?”
 Agency
• Rarely get upset at death
• Believe that the dead can be brought back to life
• Believe only people who want to die, or who are bad or
careless, actually die

57. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Childhood
Children develop more realistic perceptions of
death in middle and late childhood
• Do not view death as universal and irreversible until
about 9 years of age
Death of a parent is especially difficult for children
• School performance and peer relationships often worsen
• Death can devastate and result in a hypersensitivity
about death
• Loss of a sibling may cause similar outcomes

58. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Childhood
Psychologists stress that honesty is the best policy
when discussing death with children
• Preschool children may require a less elaborate
explanation than older children
• Adults should be sensitive and sympathetic, encouraging
children to express their own feelings and ideas

59. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Adolescence
Adolescents develop more abstract conceptions
of death
• Describe death in terms of darkness, light, transition, or
nothingness
• Develop religious and philosophical views about the
nature of death or whether life exists after death
Not unusual for adolescents to believe they are
immune to death or that it happens to other people
but not to them
• Egocentrism and the personal fable

60. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Adulthood
Increase in consciousness about death
accompanies individuals’ awareness of their aging
• Intensifies in middle adulthood
Middle-aged adults fear death more than young
adults or older adults
Older adults think about death more and talk
about it more in conversation than middle-aged or
young adults
• More direct experience as friends and relatives die

61. Attitudes Toward Death at Different
Points: In Adulthood
Younger adults who are dying often feel cheated
more than older adults
• More likely to think they have not had the opportunity to
do what they want to do with their lives
Older adults may be more able to accept death
• Increased thinking and conversing about death
• Sense of integrity developed through a positive life view
Even among older adults, however, attitudes
toward death vary

62. Facing One’s Own Death
Kübler-Ross’ stages of dying:
• Denial and isolation—denies death is taking place
• Anger—anger, resentment, rage, and envy
• Bargaining—develops a hope that death can be delayed
• Depression—perceives the certainty of death
• Acceptance—develops a sense of peace, acceptance of
one’s own fate, and often a desire to be left alone
Not demonstrated by independent research; and
fail to take into account individual situations
• Some psychologists prefer to describe them as potential
reactions rather than as stages

63. Perceived Control and Denial
Perceived control may work as an adaptive strategy
for some older adults facing death
• When individuals believe they can prolong their life, they
become more alert and cheerful
Denial can be an adaptive or a maladaptive
approach to death
• Can insulate people from having to cope with intense
feelings of anger and hurt
• Can keep us them from having a life-saving operation

64. The Contexts in Which People Die
More than 50% of Americans die in hospitals, and
nearly 20% in nursing homes
Hospitals offer important advantages to the dying
individual:
• Professional staff members are readily available
• Medical technology may prolong life
Most individuals say they would rather die at home
• Many worry, however, about being a burden, about
limited space, and about the competency and availability
of emergency medical treatment

65. Communicating with a Dying Person
Most psychologists stress the importance of dying
individuals knowing that they are dying
Advantages of an open awareness of dying:
• Can close their lives according to their own ideas about
dying
• Opportunity to complete plans or projects, make
arrangements for survivors, and participate in decisions
about funeral and burial
• Opportunity to reminisce, converse with others, and end
life conscious of what life was like
• Better understanding of what is happening and what
medical staff is doing

66. Grieving
Grief: the emotional numbness, disbelief,
separation anxiety, despair, sadness, and
loneliness that accompany loss of loved one
Pining for the lost person and separation anxiety
are important dimensions of grief
• Intermittent, recurrent wish or need to recover the
lost person; and a focus on places and things associated
with the deceased
Feelings of grief occur repeatedly after a loss
• Become more manageable over time

67. Grieving
Estimated 80% to 90% of survivors experience
normal or uncomplicated grief reactions
• By six months, the loss is accepted as reality, and
individuals become more optimistic about the future and
function competently in everyday life
At six months after their loss, approximately 10%
to 20% of survivors have difficulty moving on
• Enduring despair that remains unresolved is known as
complicated grief or prolonged grief disorder
• Greatest risk for a person who loses someone he or she
was emotionally dependent on

68. Grieving
Another type of grief is disenfranchised grief:
an individual’s grief over a deceased person that is
a socially ambiguous loss that can’t be openly
mourned or supported
• Relationship that isn’t socially recognized; a hidden loss
such as an abortion; and circumstances that are
stigmatized
• May intensify grief because the loss cannot be publicly
acknowledged
• Often hidden or repressed, and may be reawakened by
later deaths

69. Grieving
Dual-process model of coping with bereavement
emphasizes two dimensions:
• Loss-oriented stressors focus on the deceased individual
and can include grief work and both positive and negative
reappraisal of the loss
• Restoration-oriented stressors involve secondary
stressors that emerge as indirect outcomes of
bereavement
Coping with loss and engaging in restoration can
be carried out simultaneously
• Oscillation may occur over short term or longer term

70. Grieving: Type of Death
Deaths that are sudden, untimely, violent, or
traumatic are likely to have more intense and
prolonged effects on survivors
• Coping process is more difficult
• Often accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder
symptoms
 Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares, sleep disturbance,
concentration problems, etc.
There is no ideal way to grieve
• Healthy coping with death involves growth, flexibility,
and appropriateness within a cultural context

71. Making Sense of the World
Stimulating individuals to try to make sense of
their world is one beneficial aspect to grieving
• Close family members share with each other and
reminisce about family experiences
When death is caused by accident or disaster, the
effort to make sense of it is pursued more
vigorously
• Bereaved want to put the death into a perspective they
can understand

72. Forms of Mourning
In the U.S., the majority of corpses are buried, with
cremation being the next most common
• Americans have been moving away from public funerals
toward private funerals followed by a memorial ceremony
Funeral industry has been a source of controversy
• Help to provide a form of closure
• Critics claim funeral directors are there to make money
and embalming is a grotesque practice
Traditional forms of mourning vary greatly
across cultures

73. Death and Cultural Variations
In the United States, it is not uncommon to reach
adulthood without having seen someone die
Most societies have philosophical or religious
beliefs about death
• Rituals that deal with death
• Artwork
In most societies, death is not viewed as the end
of existence
• Spiritual body believed to live on
• Perspective favored by most Americans