Kastenbaum and Aisenberg identified a phenomenon, wherein American subjects personified death in four distinctive figures: Macabre, Gentle Comforter, Gay Deceiver, and Automaton. Until recently, though, researchers did not attempt to answer the question, “What specific aspects of the death experience can be attributed to each of those four personifications?” To answer this question, the current qualitative research asked individuals to envision the causes, places, and contexts of death after imagining each personification of death. The results have revealed that people associated each personification of death with distinct causes, places, and contexts of death: Macabre—murder taking place outside the home, Gentle Comforter—peaceful death by old age at home, Gay Deceiver—death from heart attack, and Automaton—death from cancer in a modern hospital. This article also discusses unanswered questions, limitations, and directions to take its research in the future.
AriesP. (1981). The hour of our death.
New York, NY:
Alfred A. Knopf. Inc.
2.
AbramovitchH. H. (2000). Good death” and “bad death”: Therapeutic implications of cultural conceptions of death and bereavement. In R. Malkinson, S. S. Rubin, & E. Witztum (Eds.), Traumatic and non-traumatic loss and bereavement: Clinical theory and practice (pp. 255–272). Madison, WI: Psychosocial Press.
3.
BassettJ. F.McCannP. A.CateK. L. (2008).
Personifications of personal and typical death as related to death attitudes. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying,
57, 163–172.
4.
BassettJ. F.WilliamsJ. E. (2002).
Personification of death, as seen in adjective check list descriptions, among funeral service and university students. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying,
45, 23–41.
5.
BeckerE. (1973). The denial of death.
New York, NY:
Free Press.
6.
BrombergW.SchilderP. (1933).
Death and dying: A comparative study of the attitudes and mental reactions toward death and dying. Psychoanalytic Review,
20, 133–135.
7.
CheungW.HoS. Y. (2004).
The use of death metaphors to understand personal meaning among Hong Kong Chinese undergraduates. Death Studies,
28, 47–62.
8.
CraddickR. A. (1972).
Symbolism of death: Archetypal and personal symbols. International Journal of Symbology,
3, 35–44.
9.
CotterR. P. (2003).
High risk behaviors in adolescence and their relationship to death anxiety and death personifications. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying,
47, 119–137.
10.
CountsD. A.CountsD. (2004).
The good, the bad, and the unresolved death in Kaliai. Social Science & Medicine,
58, 887–897.
11.
DeutschF. (1936).
Euthanasia: A clinical study. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
5, 347–368.
12.
GottliebR. (1959). Modern art and death. In H. Feifel (Ed.), The meaning of death (pp. 157–188). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
13.
GreenbergerE. (1965).
Fantasies of women confronting death. Journal of Consulting Psychology,
29, 252–260.
14.
GreenbergerE. (1966).
Flirting’ with death: Fantasies of a critically ill woman. Journal of Projective Techniques & Personality Assessment,
30, 197–204.
15.
HattoriK.McCubbinM. A.IshidaD. N. (2006).
Concept analysis of good death in the Japanese community. Journal of Nursing Scholarship,
38, 165–170. 5069.2006.00095.x
16.
HuttonJ. M.PerkinsS. J. (2008).
A qualitative study of men's experience of myocardial infarction. Psychology, Health & Medicine,
13, 87–97.
17.
JanisI. L. (1958). Psychological stress: Psychoanalytic and behavioral studies of surgical patients.
Hoboken, NJ:
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
18.
JungC. (Ed.). (1964). Man and his symbols.
New York, NY:
Doubleday.
19.
KastenbaumR. (1981). Death, society, and human experience.
St. Louis, MO:
Mosby.
20.
KastenbaumR. (1992). The psychology of death (2nd ed.).
New York, NY:
Springer.
21.
KastenbaumR. (2000). The psychology of death (3rd ed.).
New York, NY:
Springer.
22.
KastenbaumR.AisenbergR. (1972). The psychology of death.
New York, NY:
Springer.
23.
KastenbaumR.AisenbergR. (1976). The psychology of death: Concise edition.
New York, NY:
Springer.
24.
KastenbaumR.HermanC. (1997).
Death personification in the Kevorkian era. Death Studies,
21, 115–130.
25.
KastenbaumR.NormandC. (1990).
Deathbed scenes as imagined by the young and experienced by the old. Death Studies,
14(3), 201–217.
26.
LonettoR. (1982).
Personifications of death and death anxiety. Journal of Personality Assessment,
46, 404–408.
27.
LonettoR.FlemingS.ClareM.GormanM. (1976).
The perceived sex of death and concerns about death. Essence: Issues in the Study of Ageing, Dying, and Death,
1, 66–84.
28.
LonettoR.TemplerD. I. (1983). The nature of death anxiety. In C. D. Spielberger & J. N. Butcher (Eds.), Advances in personality assessment (vol. 3., pp. 14–174). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
29.
LonettoR.TemplerD. I. (1986). Death anxiety.
Washington, DC:
Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
30.
LongS. O. (2004).
Cultural scripts for a good death in Japan and the United States: Similarities and differences. Social Science & Medicine,
58, 913–928.
31.
McClellandD. C. (1963). The Harlequin complex. In R. W. White, (Ed.), The study of lives: Essays on personality in honor of Henry A. Murray (pp. 94–119). New York, NY: Atherton Press.
32.
McDonaldR. T.HilgendorfW. A. (1986).
Death imagery and death anxiety. Journal of Clinical Psychology,
42, 87–91.
33.
MooreC.WilliamsonJ. (2003). The universal fear of death and the cultural response. In BryantC. D.PeckD. L. (Eds.), Handbook of death & dying (pp. 3–13).
Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage. doi:10.4135/9781412914291.n1
34.
NagyM. (1948).
The child's theories concerning death. The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology,
73, 3–27.
35.
NogasC.SchweitzerK.GrumetJ. (1974).
An investigation of death anxiety, sense of competence, and need for achievement. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying,
5, 245–255.
36.
PapageorgisD. (1966).
On the ambivalence of death: The case of the missing harlequin. Psychological Reports,
19, 325–326.
37.
PayneS. A.Langley-EvansA.HillierR. (1996).
Perceptions of a 'good' death: A comparative study of the views of hospice staff and patients. Palliative Medicine,
10, 307–312.
38.
PetoczA. (1999). Freud, psychoanalysis, and symbolism.
Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
39.
PlankE. N.PlankR. (1978).
Children and death: As seen through art and autobiographies. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child,
33, 593–620.
40.
SealeC.van der GeestS. (2004).
Good and bad death: Introduction. Social Science & Medicine,
58, 883–885.
41.
SeymourJ. E.BellamyG.GottM.AhmedzaiS. H.ClarkD. (2002).
Good deaths, bad deaths: Older people's assessments of the risks and benefits of morphine and terminal sedation in end-of-life care. Health, Risk & Society,
4, 279–303.
42.
SchellD.SeefeldtC. (1991).
Development of a death anxiety scale for children. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying,
23, 227–234.
43.
SpronkK. (2004).
Good death and bad death in ancient Israel according to biblical lore. Social Science & Medicine,
58, 985–995.
44.
SutherlandB.JensenL. (2000).
Living with change: Elderly women's perceptions of having a myocardial infarction. Qualitative Health Research,
10, 661–676.
45.
TammM. E. (1996).
Personification of life and death among Swedish health care professionals. Death Studies,
20, 1–22.
46.
TammM. E.GranqvistA. (1995).
The meaning of death for children and adolescents: A phenomenographic study of drawings. Death Studies,
19, 203–222.
47.
van der GeestS. (2004).
Dying peacefully: Considering good death and bad death in Kwahu-Tafo, Ghana. Social Science & Medicine,
58, 899–911.
48.
VigE. K.DavenportN. A.PearlmanR. A. (2002).
Good deaths, bad deaths, and preferences for the end of life: A qualitative study of geriatric outpatients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society,
50, 1541–1548.
49.
WangW.ThompsonD. R.ChairS. Y.TwinnS. F. (2008).
Chinese couples’ experiences during convalescence from a first heart attack: A focus group study. Journal of Advanced Nursing,
61, 307–315. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2648.2007.04529.x
50.
WinklerM. (1993).
Helping people find a good death: Some historical perspectives on euthanasia. Illness, Crisis, & Loss,
3, 7–15. doi:10.2190/IL3.1.b
51.
YakulisI. M. (1975).
Changing concepts of death in a child with sickle cell disease. Maternal-Child Nursing Journal,
4, 117–120.
52.
YangS. C.ChenS. (2002).
A phenomenographic approach to the meaning of death: A Chinese perspective. Death Studies,
26, 143–175. doi:10.1080/074811802753455253
53.
ZilboorgG. (1943).
Fear of death.The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 12465–12475.
