Death and dying

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1. Examine the way in which death and dying are viewed at different points in human development

Death and dying are viewed differently at different points in human development, such s childhood, adolescents and adults. However, even small children perceive the threat of separation and threat to their survival.

1. Preschool and Middle-School Children

According to the Encyclopedia of Psychology (2000), in response to certain events young children will express spontaneous insight into the finality of death, such as experiencing a dead animal or withered plant. In fact, Nagy (1948, as cited in Singh, Singh & Nizamie, 2003) proposed three developmental stages of cognitions related to death in children. Around the age of five, according to Nagy, a child is in stage one and lacks appreciation of death as final and complete cessation, with the theme of separation most clearly comprehended at this age. In stage two, children begin to think of death as final but not inevitable, and have a strong tendency to personify death. At the age of nine or ten, children enter stage three, which is marked by comprehension of death as both final and inevitable. Here the child seems to accept the prospect of personal mortality. However, Singh, Singh and Nizamie (2003) point out "that anecdotal reports suggest that the child's discovery of death begins much earlier than the most cognitive theorists seem prepared to accept" (p.1)

According to Singh, Singh and Nizamie (2003), children's understanding of death and dying is colored by their affective and cognitive development and their related fears about dying. Based on Piaget's cognitive theory, in the preoperational stage of ...