Editing Fear (section)

=== Death ===
{{Main|Fear of death}}
The fear of the end of life and its existence is, in other words, the fear of death. Historically, attempts were made to reduce this fear by performing rituals which have helped collect the cultural ideas that we now have in the present.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} These rituals also helped preserve the cultural ideas. The results and methods of human existence had been changing at the same time that social formation was changing.

When people are faced with their own thoughts of death, they either accept that they are dying or will die because they have lived a full life or they will experience fear. A theory was developed in response to this, which is called the [[terror management theory]]. The theory states that a person's cultural worldviews (religion, values, etc.) will mitigate the terror associated with the fear of death through avoidance. To help manage their terror, they find solace in their death-denying beliefs, such as their religion. Another way people cope with their death related fears is pushing any thoughts of death into the future or by avoiding these thoughts all together through distractions.<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Goldenberg JL, Pyszczynski T, Greenberg J, Solomon S |s2cid=31331978|date=August 2000|title=Fleeing the Body: A Terror Management Perspective on the Problem of Human Corporeality|journal=Personality and Social Psychology Review|volume=4|issue=3|pages=200–218|doi=10.1207/s15327957pspr0403_1|issn=1088-8683}}</ref> Although there are methods for one coping with the terror associated with their fear of death, not everyone suffers from these same uncertainties. People who believe they have lived life to the "fullest" typically do not fear death.

Death anxiety is multidimensional; it covers "fears related to one's own death, the death of others, fear of the unknown after death, fear of obliteration, and fear of the dying process, which includes fear of a slow death and a painful death".<ref name="Fry">{{cite journal | vauthors = Fry PS | title = Perceived self-efficacy domains as predictors of fear of the unknown and fear of dying among older adults | journal = Psychology and Aging | volume = 18 | issue = 3 | pages = 474–486 | date = September 2003 | pmid = 14518809 | doi = 10.1037/0882-7974.18.3.474 }}</ref>

The [[Yale]] philosopher [[Shelly Kagan]] examined fear of death in a 2007 Yale open course<ref name="Kagan">[[Shelly Kagan|Kagan, Shelly]]. [http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-22 Lecture 22: Fear of Death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309221733/http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-22|date=2012-03-09}} in [http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-1 PHIL 176: Death] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609203506/http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176/lecture-1|date=2017-06-09}}. Yale Open Course 2007.</ref> by examining the following questions: Is fear of death a reasonable appropriate response? What conditions are required and what are appropriate conditions for feeling fear of death? What is meant by fear, and how much fear is appropriate? According to Kagan for fear in general to make sense, three conditions should be met:

# the object of fear needs to be "something bad"
# there needs to be a non-negligible chance that the bad state of affairs will happen
# there needs to be some uncertainty about the bad state of affairs

The amount of fear should be appropriate to the size of "the bad". If the three conditions are not met, fear is an inappropriate emotion. He argues, that death does not meet the first two criteria, even if death is a "deprivation of good things" and even if one believes in a painful afterlife. Because death is certain, it also does not meet the third criterion, but he grants that the unpredictability of when one dies ''may'' be cause to a sense of fear.<ref name="Kagan" />

In a 2003 study of 167 women and 121 men, aged 65–87, low [[self-efficacy]] predicted fear of the unknown after death and fear of dying for women and men better than demographics, social support, and physical health. Fear of death was measured by a "Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale" which included the 8 subscales Fear of Dying, Fear of the Dead, Fear of Being Destroyed, Fear for Significant Others, Fear of the Unknown, Fear of Conscious Death, Fear for the Body After Death, and Fear of Premature Death. In [[hierarchical multiple regression]] analysis, the most potent predictors of death fears were low "spiritual health efficacy", defined as beliefs relating to one's perceived ability to generate spiritually based faith and inner strength, and low "instrumental efficacy", defined as beliefs relating to one's perceived ability to manage activities of daily living.<ref name="Fry" />

Psychologists have tested the hypotheses that fear of death motivates religious commitment, and that assurances about an afterlife alleviate the fear, with equivocal results.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} Religiosity can be related to fear of death when the afterlife is portrayed as time of punishment. "Intrinsic religiosity", as opposed to mere "formal religious involvement", has been found to be negatively correlated with death anxiety.<ref name="Fry" /> In a 1976 study of people of various Christian denominations, those who were most firm in their faith, who attended religious services weekly, were the least afraid of dying. The survey found a negative correlation between fear of death and "religious concern".<ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Kahoe RD, Dunn RF |year=1976|title=The fear of death and religious attitudes and behavior|journal=Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion|volume=14|issue=4|pages=379–382|doi=10.2307/1384409|jstor=1384409}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=citation is not peer-reviewed|date=February 2014}}

In a 2006 study of white, Christian men and women the hypothesis was tested that traditional, church-centered religiousness and de-institutionalized spiritual seeking are ways of approaching fear of death in old age. Both religiousness and spirituality were related to positive psychosocial functioning, but only church-centered religiousness protected subjects against the fear of death.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bassett JF, Bussard ML | title = Examining the Complex Relation Among Religion, Morality, and Death Anxiety: Religion Can Be a Source of Comfort and Concern Regarding Fears of Death | journal = Omega | volume = 82 | issue = 3 | pages = 467–487 | date = February 2021 | pmid = 30572785 | doi = 10.1177/0030222818819343 | s2cid = 58619649 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| vauthors = Wink P |year=2006|title=Who is afraid of death? Religiousness, spirituality, and death anxiety in late adulthood|journal=Journal of Religion, Spirituality & Aging|volume=18|issue=2|pages=93–110|doi=10.1300/J496v18n02_08|s2cid=144684731}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=citation is not peer-reviewed|date=February 2014}}