“Death brings out the beauty in life.”

― Samantha Diaz

8.1 - Overview

Last Rites and Funerals

In this assignment, we explore loss, last rites, and Rituals in lives of we mortals.

"Heartbreak is a curious sensation: the sort of pain that goes mercifully beyond our powers of feeling. When your heart is broken, your boats are burned: nothing matters any more. It is the end of happiness and the beginning of peace." So wrote George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950), the Anglo-Irish playwright and critic. The words are of his character Ellie, in Heartbreak House.

The purpose of Homework Assignment #8 is to: (a) provide you with an understanding of the many experiences that comprise loss, and (b) to provide you with "hands on experience" in learning more about bereavement, grief, and mourning as well as last rites and rituals.

8.2 - Using The Internet To Conduct Psych Research

Researching Thanatology

Theme

For completing this "Internet Research Project," you are to seek out one of the following: (a) a scientific journal article, (b) a national media article or, (c) a Website that discusses, provides a fact sheet, or reports other such findings.

Task

Using one or more of the above resources, discuss some aspect of bereavement, grief, and mourning. Topics might include ways of working through grief, grief models, or how types of death complicate recovery from loss. Your report is to be in the form of a "discussion paper" of at least one to three typed, double-spaced pages.

You are urged to use the Internet exclusively, though you may use Doyle Library or other such "land-based" resources.

Death and Dying Resources

Doyle Library (Click on Electronic Databases)

The first link below will take you to resources for learning more about "Coping With Loss Resources" for those who have experienced loss," It is an excellent resourse for better understanding the many issures surrounding bereavement, grief, and mourning.

The second link is a wonderful resource for learning more strategies for helping someone --- an adult, a child --- through the painful loss of a pet.

115 Helpful Websites on Grief & Bereavement

Ten Tips on Coping with Pet Loss

8.3 - Psychology Based Websites

Using Internet Tools To Learn About Death and Dying

Task

For the following psychologically oriented Website, report back what you learned from exploring any one of the many sub-categories listed. A tightly written paragraph--or better yet a typed, double-spaced page--sharing what you learned and what your reactions were, would be most appreciated.

Professor's Favorite Section: "Complicated Grief"

Death and Dying Resources

8.4 - Reading Assignment - Chapter 8

Title - Last Rites: Funerals and Body Disposition

Your primary textbooks include The Last Dance (10th ed.) by Lynne Ann DeSpelder and Albert Lee Strickland (New York: McGraw, 2014) and Grieving Days, Healing Days, by J. Davis Mannino (San Francisco, California: TeddyBear Publishing, 2013).

Primary Readings

As you read Chapter 8, "Last Rites: Funerals and Body Disposition" you should keep in mind the following key questions and core concepts.

Content Overview

The choices people make involving funeral rituals and body disposition reflect their attitudes and beliefs about death.
The psychosocial aspects of funeral rites include announcement of death (including obituaries and death notices) as well as mutual support as an impetus for coping with loss.
The American funeral has evolved from handmade coffins and wakes held in the parlor of the family home to ornate caskets and ceremonies managed by funeral directors. Critics maintain that modern funerals are prone to unnecessarily high costs.
New options for care and disposition of the dead, personalized funerals, and the advent of Internet memorials commemorating a person’s life have increased choices in last rites.
Bereaved people may find solace through remembrance rituals and services and the holding on to possessions and linking objects.
Well-informed consumers of funeral services are knowledgeable about costs and are able to compare prices and evaluate the variety of services offered in the marketplace.
Funeral and memorial societies are organized to serve their members or customers by negotiating reduced prices for basic services.
The laws regulating the disposition of human remains generally specify where and how burials and disposal of cremated remains can be accomplished.
Meaningful choices regarding last rites reflect personal as well as community values.

Objectives

To describe the function of last rites and funeral rituals, including their psychosocial aspects.
To identify social networks set up to identify online friends of a death.
To examine the historical changes in American funeral rituals and to assess the relevance of criticism with respect to current professional practices.
To describe practices and costs of various mortuary and cemetery options.
To identify options for body disposition.
To evaluate new directions in funerals and body disposition.
To identify remembrance rituals and linking objects.
To identify options for memorialization.
To design a personally meaningful funeral ritual for oneself.

Key Terms and Concepts

aftercare

ashes
body disposition
burial
casket
cemetery
coffin
columbarium
committal
cremation
cryomation
cryonics
crypt
cyberfuneral
cybermourners
death notification
deathwatch
descansos
direct cremation
directive mourning therapy
embalming
entombment
funeral
funeral director
funeral home
Funeral Rule (FTC)
funerary artifacts
grave goods
grave liner
grave marker
green burial
home funeral
immediate burial
indigent burial
itemized pricing
last rites
life-centered funeral
linking objects
mausoleum
memorial magazine
memorial service
memorial society
memorialization
mortician
mortuary
necropolis
niche
procession
remembrance rituals
resomation
roadside memorials
spontaneous shrines
undertaker
vault
viewing room
vigil
virtual cemeteries
visitation
wake
water burial

Questions For Guided Study and Evaluation

Describe the psychosocial functions of the announcement of death and funeral rites. Identify how these social activities serve the psychological needs of the bereaved.
Describe the major requirements of the FTC Funeral Rule.
Summarize the major criticisms of the American funeral and assess their validity.
Describe the four categories of charges that make up the total cost of a funeral and body disposition.
Compare the various methods of body disposition and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Explain the functions of memorial societies and contrast them with conventional funeral practices.
Define the purpose of the funeral, and assess current funeral practices in light of that definition.
Describe the significant new directions in funerals and body disposition.
Write a detailed description of the funeral you would plan for yourself, giving reasons for your choices.

Task 8.4

In the section above entitled: "Questions For Guided Study And Evaluation," briefly discuss any two questions you wish. Be sure to have enough length and quality to properly respond to each question.

Related Link

In his book, How We Die, author Sherwin Nuland notes, "On a late summer day in 1899, a sixty-eight-year-old real estate broker, ironically bearing the name Henry Bliss, stepped off a trolley car in New York City and was killed by a passing automobile, thereby acquiring the dubious distinction of becoming our country's first automotive traffic fatality. Since then, almost 3 million people have died of motor vehicle injuries." How we die and when we die, greatly shapes how others, who survive, in fact grieve and mourn.

The following link takes you to a superb site for understanding one of life's great sufferings, pregnancy loss. Such losses include, stillbirth, miscarriage, and infertility issues. The site is sponsored by the American Pregnancy Association.

Task

Provide a reaction response to what you discovered and learned at these website(s).

American Pregnancy Association - Pregnancy Loss

Practice Quiz - Chapter #8

In this section you will find a practice quiz for each assigned textbook chapter in The Last Dance. The quiz is presented in a link below.

Psych 56 - Chapter #8 Quiz - "Last Rites"

8.5 - "Grieving Days, Healing Days" - The Workbook

Learning Through "Hands-On" Doing

Overview

Grieving Days, Healing Days, is an interactive workbook written by Dr. J. Davis Mannino, 2013 (Formerly, Boston: Simon & Schuster, 1996). It is required for this course, because specific pages in the workbook are assigned as part of each homework assignment that you chose to complete.

Assignments to complete in Grieving Days, Healing Days will be listed in this section for each of the 16 homework assignments. Generally speaking, assignments are due by the assigned date. This workbook is loaded with readings, exercises, and activities that will enhance your learning of many important topics in the study of death and dying --- a field that is better known as "thanatology."

It is also important to remember that certain workbook pages will be required reading for assignments that you choose to complete. Therefore, always review and read workbook readings for each of the homework assignments you choose to complete as part of the course requirement. Choose assignments that fulfill your overall course requirement from GDHD.

Workbook Reading Assignment

Review Grieving Days, Healing Days, and become familiar with it.
At minimum, read and complete ANY THREE of the following assignments in Grieving Days, Healing Days. This only applies to those HW assignments you are completing as part of the course requirement. They may also be credited towards your overall course workbook requirement as well. Please note that all online homework assignments must, at minimum, still be read and reviewed.

Funeral Wishes, p. 99
Obituary, p. 192
Eulogy, p. 194
Gravestone Pictures, p. 194
Tombstone Epitaph, p. 195
Funeral Home Field Trip, p. 233
Cemetery Field Trip, p. 236

8.6 - Course Discussion Board

Module #8 - Thought Provoking Question (TPQ) or Article

Overview

The purpose of a course discussion board is to allow students and professor an opportunity to interact about topics of common interest. A discussion board is also a fine tool to share commonly asked questions, answers, and concerns.

You are urged to use the message board, when you have questions that you think others may wish to know; when you have technical questions or answers that others may wish to know, and to share other useful tidbits with each other. I want each of you to become familiar with the message board system.

Once you have composed your thoughts and written them down in a word application program [i.e., Microsoft word] --- with grammar and spell check---you follow through with posting (copy and pasting) them. Remember, to be sure you also post your comments in the appropriate place in the task boxes that links later in this assignment. You only do this if you are also submitting this ENTIRE assignment as one of your required four online assignments for this course.

Task

In each class module, there will be one thought-provoking course related question or article for which discussion is expected from students. While not always directly related to assigned readings, they have important course-wide implications. You are expected to respond to each TPQ by the end of each class module's deadline Be sure to place the question/article module number (#) in the "subject line" so your classmates will know which module topic you are addressing.

Since there is only one "thought-provoking question or article " (TPQ) due per module during the regular semester, a minimum response of 250 to 500 words is required for each message board TPQ posting. Also, students need to post a TPQ for EACH of the 15 online assignments.

This Assignment's Thought Provoking Question (TPQ) or Article

The following link is a graded assignment for the TPQ. (1) Click on the link below, (2) read the TPQ or article, and then (3) respond in the student posting area provided at the end of the article.

Thought Provoking Reading #8 - "The Importance of Miracles ..."

8.7 - Death: A Personal Understanding

Overview

A “Hint of a Whisper of Enjoyment!”

Welcome to a new video feature for my online course in Aging, Dying, and Death! The goal is to provide at least a "hint of a whisper of enjoyment" from the ordinary, mundane, and often boring, classroom experience!

Each class module has a selection from a fascinating collection of YouTubevideo clips I have gathered. These instructional videos clips on aging, dying, and death are intended for college classrooms and adult learners. The selection of clips provided over the course of this class, were researched carefully by your professor, and in many cases recommended by former students.

The influence of digital videos on our everyday culture is undeniable. Online video sharing sites such as YouTube, Vimeo andMetacafeboast monthly audience numbers in the millions! With digital videos continuing to gain popularity, it seems only natural that this familiar and widespread platform should extend into the educational setting.

Students today are utilizing educational videos as a tool for learning everything from changing a tire to the latest dance craze. Remarkably, millennials make up 92% of the digital video viewing audience. Abstract topics that once seemed difficult to teach and learn are now more accessible and understandable thanks to the availability of educational videos.

Studies have shown that the use of short video clips allows for more efficient processing and memory recall. The visual and auditory nature of videos appeals to a wide audience and allows each user to process information in a way that’s natural to them.

Gain a greater understanding of aging, dying and death through case studies and moving personal stories of people facing their own death or the death of a loved one. This series explores a wide range of North American cultural perspectives on death within the context of current issues

Directions

Simply click on the video link below and enjoy. Captioning Note: For my students with disability challenges, there is a "closed captioning" option with each clip in this video series. I enjoy watching the video clip with captioning on as I have some hearing problems and I can catch everything everyone is saying; especially if they are not talking clearly.

Video #8 - Hindu Beliefs About Dying and Death

This video was made for Sociology 1145- Cultural Anthropology for Sinclair Community College in July 2015. It is an educational video about Hindu thoughts and culture regarding the death and dying process. Thank you for watching!

Task

When done reviewing the assigned video, prepare a reaction statement at the "Graded Responses Go Here!" section link described further down at the end of this assignment.

Hindu Beliefs on Dying and Death

8.8 - Module Assignment #8 Responses

Composing Your Responses To Module #8 (Helpful Directions)

Overview

For each course module there is a major homework assignment that must be completed. Each of these module homework assignments has several tasks. Some entail reading, some include exploring and reviewing websites, reviewing videos, and still others involve written tasks --- work that ALL must be submitted for review and/or grading.

Responses to "tasks" must be sent on time or you will either fail the assignment or be severely penalized. Late homework assignments are perceived as both a student who is "absent from class" and who is "late with work." Please always maintain a backup copy of all your written work. Glitches occur in online technology-based education, but ultimately it is your responsibility to maintain adequate backup of all work submitted. You are also encouraged to compose your work within a word-processing application and then "copy and paste" into assigned module "task boxes." This is so you may avail yourself of spell and grammar check options provided in most modern word processing software.

Please be aware that all submissions are automatically received by the course "gradebook," where they will be evaluated by your professor for acceptance, rejection, or acceptance with penalty. So make sure your work is received promptly. Much the same way that attendance is determined by you presence in the traditional classroom at the regularly scheduled class time, so too is attendance determined by your prompt submission of assignments while enrolled in an online course. Furthermore, arriving to class without homework or with incomplete homework is also perceived in the same manner with an online course. Accordingly, you are encouraged to submit you weekly work prior to deadlines, to avoid computer glitches, "downtime," and other "technological spills and inconveniences."

Directions

Each numbered task box listed below corresponds with tasks described in each module's homework assignment. Usually, tasks outlined on this webpage require written reactions and/or responses.

Be sure to follow directions carefully and precisely when completing each task. "A word to the wise!" Minimal work receives a minimal grade. For example, if a task asks that you provide a written paragraph or two, and you provide just that, then you have provided only minimal work. Simply said, minimal work is "C" work. Well thought out writing that exceeds both excellence and minimal length (word count) and quality requirements is, generally speaking, graded higher and indicative of a "good and solidly motivated student." However length in of itself does not assure quality either, so learn to strike a balance. Good luck!

Particulars

Remember this module is due by a certain date or will be penalized. Overly late assignments may NOT be accepted at all, and at minimum, marked down. The discretion of the professor rules in all such matters. Was your assignment "Online and Ontime?" Before beginning this first homework assignment be sure you understand the word count and quality requirements --- 550 to 750 words --- depending on grade desire). See Grading Policy in Course Basics at the Course Syllabus for further information regarding requirements and grading of module submissions.

ALL students are responsible for completing ALL 15 modules and having a moderate understanding of each. Don't cheat yourself out of a good education.

Module Assignment #8 - Graded Responses Go Here!

Assignment Feedback Form - Online Psych 56 (Module #8)

Dr. J. Davis Mannino - Revised January 4, 2018 - 02:08 PM