What Matters in the Mirror of Time: Why Lucretius’ Symmetry Argument Fails

By appealing to the similarity between pre-vital and post-mortem nonexistence, Lucretius famously tried to show that our anxiety about death was irrational. His so-called Symmetry Argument has been attacked in various ways, but all of these strategies are themselves problematic. In this paper, I propose a new approach to undermining the argument: when Parfit’s distinction between identity and what matters is applied, not diachronically (as he uses it) but across possible worlds, the alleged symmetry can be broken. Although the pre-vital and posthumous time spans that we could have experienced are indeed analogous with respect to our identity, they are not analogous with respect to psychological continuity, which forms the basis of prudential concern. Lucretius even anticipated the Parfitian distinction. He did not, however, notice the significance that it has for his Symmetry Argument.     

Masculinity and Emotionality: An Investigation of Men's Primary and Secondary Emotional Responding

In this study, we investigated the role of masculinity in men's affect intensity and men's fear of emotions. Men's masculine ideology and self-reported masculine gender role stress were assessed as cognitive and experiential factors of adherence to traditional masculine gender norms. Masculine ideology was negatively related to men's global affect intensity. However, on a 3-factor model of affect intensity, only negative reactivity was significantly related to masculine ideology. Both masculine ideology and masculine gender role stress were positively related to men's fear of emotions. Results are discussed in the context of theories of gender differences in emotion.     

对死亡恐惧的形而上追问

死亡恐惧与自我意识相伴而生,成为人类无法根除的永恒性焦虑。它既根源于他人之死呈现出的经验性恐惧,也来自于拒斥死亡的社会文化所导致的认知性恐惧以及面临“自我”之死时产生的形而上恐惧。死亡恐惧不能彻底消解只能消减,保持适当的死亡恐惧是必要的,也是有益的,它是人类一切精神性追求的内在动力。人们通常力求通过外向性的追求去摆脱或超越死亡恐惧,然而只有通过反躬自省,不假外求的方式,才能最终完成对生命的觉解与超越。     

The structure of negative emotions in adolescents

This study examined the structure of negative emotions in a sample of nonclinical adolescents, using an approach that exclusively relied on child self-report. A large sample of adolescents (N = 968) completed self-report questionnaires measuring symptoms of fear, anxiety, and depression. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the notion that fear, anxiety, and depression are distinct yet correlated components of negative emotions. This result is in agreement with recent empirical findings and current theoretical notions on the structure of negative emotions in children and should be taken as an encouragement for researchers to develop more specific measures for assessing fear, anxiety, and depression in children.     

积极情绪对条件性恐惧泛化的抑制作用

恐惧的过度泛化是焦虑障碍的核心症状之一,表现为患者对与原危险刺激极不相似的安全刺激也产生恐惧反应。本研究采用经典条件恐惧范式,以US主观预期、回溯性恐惧评定、回溯性效价评定和皮电反应作为恐惧反应的指标,通过"最好自我"训练来诱发被试的积极情绪,考察了恐惧习得后的积极情绪对于恐惧泛化的影响。本研究发现,积极情绪能有效地抑制条件性恐惧的泛化,增强被试对安全信号的学习,并对消退后的恐惧重建现象起到预防作用。研究同时显示,恐惧泛化在主观评定指标和生理指标间出现了分离,这表明积极情绪对恐惧泛化的抑制作用是一个综合的过程,可能涉及到不同的作用机制。本研究结果提示可以通过诱发积极情绪,抑制条件性恐惧的泛化,对临床干预有一定的启发意义。     

Fear of Death in Hypochondriasis: Bodily Threat and Its Treatment Implications

This article aims to explore the perception of body in hypochondriasis and implications that it has for fear of death and for treatment of hypochondriasis. It is suggested that a sense of threat posed by the body in hypochondriasis is intimately related to the fear of body, expectations of bodily failure, fear of disease and pathological fear of death. Clinical aspects and potential antecedents of these phenomena are discussed in the article. It is emphasized that fear of the body and fear of death should be adequately addressed in the course of treatment, regardless of the nature of the primary treatment approach. Relevant treatment strategies are outlined, with treatment goals including an adoption of the non-threatening perception of one’s body, modification of attitudes and beliefs related to health, illness and death which heighten fear of death, and substantial alleviation or elimination of the pathological fear of death.     

Why Does Fear Override Hope in Societies Engulfed by Intractable Conflict,as It Does in the Israeli Society?

The question of why fear overrides hope in societies embarked on the road of peacemaking after years of intractable conflict is answered on the basis of accumulated knowledge in the psychology and sociology of emotions. This knowledge suggests that fear is an automatic emotion, grounded in the perceived present and often based on the memorized past (also processed unconsciously), that leads to freezing of beliefs, conservatism, and sometimes preemptive aggression. Hope, in contrast, involves mostly cognitive activity, which requires the search for new ideas and thus is based on creativity and flexibility. Because hope is based on thinking, it can be seriously impeded by the spontaneous and unconscious interference of fear. Both fear and hope can become collective emotional orientations that organize society's views and direct its forms of action. It is assumed that societies involved in intractable conflict are dominated by a collective emotional orientation of fear, which is functional in their coping with the stressful and demanding situation. But such an orientation serves as a psychological obstacle to a peace process once it starts. The Israeli Jewish case of collective fear orientation is offered as an example. The presentation includes the roots of this orientation, the ways in which it is reflected and disseminated, and its expressions among the Israeli Jewish public; it ends optimistically with the suggestion that societies can determine to overcome their fear and establish a collective orientation of hope for peace.     

The Fear of Death

Taking a somewhat indirect route that includes some autobiographical reflection, I address three questions. One is what it might mean to say, with Socrates, that philosophy is "studying for death". The second is why Christians should fear death at all, if the good of Heaven is really what they believe is beyond it. The third is the question what difference it makes to your philosophical view of death if you are a believer.     

生命回顾疗法介入晚期癌症患者死亡恐惧的实践探索

聚焦晚期癌症患者死亡恐惧,分析比较生命回顾疗法的实际应用。基于临床服务案例,医务社工发现晚期癌症患者的死亡恐惧主要受躯体症状、疾病归因、家庭支持和心性支持四方面影响。医务社工通过运用生命回顾疗法对晚期癌症患者进行干预,依托建立早期良好专业关系、正视死亡恐惧、回顾重要生命事件、强化/修复重要关系、增强自我认同五大策略,赋予患者生命新的价值和希望,实现生命意义的整合,有效缓解个体死亡恐惧,改善末期生命质量。

     

L’annonce d’un décès en milieu hospitalier

Announcing a death is always a delicate moment for close familial members but also for caregivers. Law gives some precisions about how this information must be delivered. Recently the state council judged that the lack of empathy from caregivers and the late of the death announcement can create a damage. This judgement gives more precisions about how a death announcement must be in a hospital. This topic is pretty similar with the information which must be given to close familial members about organ donation. This latter is definitely more exceptional and the procedure is a way more regulated. There are much rules which explain how this information must be delivered.     

Working with Older Adults: Predictors of Attitudes Towards Ageing in Psychology and Social Work Students,Faculty, and Practitioners

The Australian population is experiencing a rapid ageing of the population, and as such, an increased need for gerontological practitioners in the helping professions will continue to grow. Terror management theory (TMT), which was used to frame this study, posits that because of the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality, they are compelled to avoid the anxiety associated with it. Personal ageing and interaction with older adults may be reminders of the unavoidable decline and death that faces us all. The purpose of this study is to examine comfort in spending time with older adults amongst students, academic teaching staff, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and social work. We sought to determine if TMT helped predict fear of being with older adults. Ageism, contact with older adults, and known demographic factors associated with attitudes towards older adults were also examined. Hierarchical multiple regression explained nearly 46% of the variance in comfort with older adults and indicated that fear of ageing, positive ageism, negative ageism, contact with older adults, and sex were significant predictors. Educational efforts aimed at addressing beliefs about ageing and older adults may contribute to further comfort in working with older adults.     

儿童混合情绪的发展研究述评

混合情绪是指同一情境中同时存在两种不同或者矛盾的情绪状态,主要包括混合情绪理解和混合情绪体验两个方面,其发展模式表现为从单一情绪理解到多种情绪理解、从继时性混合到同时性混合的特点,但在具体的发展年龄特征上研究结果存在分歧。混合情绪的发展研究主要采用临床访谈法,其基本研究范式一致,但在材料的制作、刺激的呈现、被试的反应方式以及结果的处理等方面存在差异。未来,在研究范式上需要有所突破,内隐测量、认知神经科学方法等对揭示混合情绪发展规律都有其独特的优势。同时,应扩大研究对象的年龄范围,从发展水平和模式两个方面系统考察儿童混合情绪的发展特点及其影响与作用。     

The Role of Fear in Our Love of God: A Lutheran Perspective

Abstract : Lutheran Christians in particular have been taught in the Catechism to “fear and love God.” This article questions the assumption that in a contemporary context, fear and love can helpfully co‐exist, examining the different ways in which “fear of God” is a challenging concept for twenty‐first‐century Christians to understand. The article concludes with suggestions for how “fear of God” might be re‐interpreted and re‐articulated in a constructive way, leading to a more meaningful Christian life in the world today.     

Dyadic coping mediates the relationship between parents’ grief and dyadic adjustment following the loss of a child

Background and Objectives: This study aimed to examine forms of dyadic coping (DC) as mediators of the association between parents’ grief response and dyadic adjustment and to determine whether these indirect effects were moderated by the child’s type of death, timing of death, and age.

Design: The study design was cross-sectional.

Method: The sample consisted of 197 bereaved parents. Participants completed the Prolonged Grief Disorder Scale, Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale, and Dyadic Coping Inventory.

Results: Significant indirect effects of parents’ grief response on dyadic adjustment were found through stress communication by oneself and by the partner, positive and negative DC by the partner, and joint DC. The timing of death moderated the association between grief response and dyadic adjustment and between joint DC and dyadic adjustment. Grief response was negatively associated with dyadic adjustment only when the death occurred after birth. Grief response was negatively associated with joint DC, which, in turn, was positively associated with dyadic adjustment, when the death occurred both before and after birth. However, the association was stronger in the latter.

Conclusions: Specific forms of DC might be mechanisms through which grief response is associated with dyadic adjustment and should be promoted in clinical practice.     

Religiosity and fear of death: a three‐nation comparison

Numerous studies have sought to determine if religiosity is correlated with fear of death. Findings have been anything but consistent, with reports of negative relationships, positive relationships, no relationship, and even curvilinear associations. To shed light on this still contentious issue, the present study was undertaken among college students in three countries – Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States. Overall, the patterns in all three countries were similar. When linearity was assumed, there is a substantial positive correlation between most religiosity measures and fear of death. Assuming curvilinearity added slightly to the strength of the relationships in the US data and nothing to data from Malaysia or Turkey. Other findings were that on average females were more religious and feared death more than did males, and Muslims expressed considerably greater fear than did members of any other major religion. Results were discussed in the context of a new theory – called death apprehension theory. Among other things, it specifically predicts that death apprehension will be positively related to most religious beliefs and practices.