Research Proposal on "How Stress Effects Memory in Adults"

Quoted Instructions for "How Stress Effects Memory in Adults" Assignment:

I chose the topic of How Stress effects Memory in Adults, The hypothesis could be something like Stress Effects Memory in Middle Aged Women or something like that. Not sure if you need this, but I will need a reference page and Title page included with APA in-citation format. I gather the proposed methodology is the hardest part, but it might not be for you. I did find sources if you need them or have a problem finding them, but that is up to you.Thank you for writing, this class has been difficult and I have to get a great grade on this paper in order to pass without messing up my GPA.

The proposal will include

the introduction/literature review, method section, predicted results, and discussion of what these results

mean. A title page, reference page, and abstract must also be included. The paper must be written in

APA format and the proposed study must be feasible (i.e., can be carried out). It is important that you

consider feasibility of collecting data and running the study so that you avoid potential problems if you do

carry out the research project.

. In short, what actions are you going to take in order to answer the question? When will you know whether the hypothesis has been proven wrong, or has survived enough tests to be considered, for now, valid? Those tests and the way you are supposed to handle them to give rigor to your research is what is understood under methods. Methods divide in qualitative (interviews, questionnaires) and quantitative (statistics, stuff that deals intensively with numbers). For some projects qualitative methods are more appropriate, for some quantitative, while for most a mixture of the two is adequate. You should pick your methods and justify your choice.

I will include a sample paper the instructor provided if you would like to take a look. Not sure if you wanted it or not. And I found some articles, but I did not know if that would make it easier or harder for you. The format won*****'t be right on here, but it will give you the idea. You certainly don*****'t have to read it if you do not want too, I just included it because the instructor did. The proposed method and materials and procedure is up to you unless you would like me to come up with them.

. Abstract

Death is the universal end of all living organisms, through which all life-supporting functions cease all operations (Cicarrelli, 2001). Objective notions of death then generate subjective notions, promoting fear of death, death attitudes, and death acceptance. The purpose of the study is to examine the effects of the variables on death obsession. The study will be comprised of three groups of 50 participants. A stepwise multiple regression analysis will be conducted with age, death anxiety, and religiosity as predictors of death obsession. Pearson*****s r correlations will be conducted to determine individual effects of each variable on death obsession and on each other. It is predicted that older adults, experiencing high death anxiety and low religiosity will experience death obsession.

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The Relationship between Death Obsession and Religiosity during Early, Middle, and Late Adulthood

Death: the ultimate state of being which no human can ever escape. Defined as universal, irreversible, and resulting in the termination of all mental and bodily functions that once defined a living person, death is thus regarded by most as the inescapable, nature-enforced commandment the self must one day encounter and to which fall prey (Ciceralli, 2001). In concert with this objective and an individual*****s subjective analysis of death comes the seemingly inevitable fear of death (Ciceralli, 2001), death anxiety, and, in some specific cases, death obsession (Abel-Khalek, 2005), which present themselves in all stages of a person*****s life, beginning around middle to late childhood with no evident period of extinction. Research in this topic has helped psychologists and clients gain a better understanding of the implications of death and their effect on the lives of human beings. By continuing research in this field, it is probable that the existent pool of knowledge on death and its variants will expand, thus allowing for an increase in understanding and in professionals***** ability to help their clients.

Most of death*****s relatable variables are multidimensional in principle. The overall relatable variables include age (Noppe & Noppe), religiosity (Cicirelli, 2001), death concept (Cotton & Range, 1990), death acceptance (Abdel-Khalek, 2002), death anxiety (Abdel-Khalek, 2002), implicit and explicit death attitudes (Bassett & Dabbs, 2003), fear of death (Abdel-Khalek, 2002), and death obsession (Abdel-Khalek, 2005). Those that are multidimensional in principle include death concept, death acceptance, fear of death, implicit and explicit death attitudes, and religiosity. The purpose of this research project is to become better acquainted with the above mentioned multidimensional death variables in an effort to design a sound study that will strengthen and expand contemporary understanding of death obsession as a function of age, death anxiety, and a considerable belief in the afterlife.

Death Concept

Death concept is a measure of perception by which individuals***** perspective on death and other death relatable variables are determined. As all multidimensional variables, death concept is broken down into four distinct components: irreversibility, finality, inevitability, and causality. The first component, irreversibility, is the awareness that the biology of a human being cannot be changed and that once dead, the cadaver, or physical body cannot be brought back to life. The second component, finality, is the awareness that, once deceased, the body will no longer resume the life-essential functions it previously performed- death is the cessation of all function. Finality is further divided into three notions: immobility, or the non-existent levels of activity found in the lifeless body after death, dysfunctionality, or the cessation of bodily functions such metabolism, and insensitivity, or the cessation of all sensory functions such as reflection. The third component, inevitability, is the awareness that death is a universal component of life that cannot be conquered- the understanding that the self will one day be surmounted by death. The fourth and final component, causality, is the awareness that the factors leading to the death of the self and others are physiological ones. This component of death concept is especially necessary when explaining the concept of death to children for they are at risk of blaming themselves for the death of a person to whom they were closely attached (Cotton & Range, 1990).

Death concept has been found to be affected not by age, as most other death relatable variables seem to be, but to the cognitive level and past death experiences of human beings (Cotton & Range, 1990). Individuals exhibiting mature cognitive levels tend to have a more accurate perception of each of the four components of death concept. Individuals with past death experience, who were in an emotionally supportive environment which provided accurately detailed explanations of the death process also showed accurate death concepts, while those who experienced death in non-supportive environment tended to have a greater amount of inaccuracy (Cotton & Range, 1990).

Based on past research, an accurate perception on the inevitability of death, the third component of death concept discussed above, is now thought to be related to an individual*****s development of abstract thinking (Cicirelli, 2001). An accurate death concept is thus unlikely to be found in children and young adolescents who have yet to acquire this pattern of thought.

Religiosity

Another multidimensional variable related to death is religiosity, which is defined by the amount of religious conviction present in a human being. For instance, nuns, priests, and other devout followers of a specific faith or belief score high on religiosity scales, while their apathetic counterparts score low on those same scales. According to Harding et al. (2005), religiosity has four main dimensions: ritual religiosity (e.g. the attendance rates of services and ceremonies), experiential religiosity (e.g. the extent of individuals***** comfort with and faith in the religion they are committed to), consequential religiosity (e.g. the influence individuals***** religion holds on their day-to-day decisions), and theological religiosity (e.g. individuals***** beliefs in a dominant higher power and the existence of an afterlife).

It has been found that older individuals report high measures of religiosity (Cicirelli, 2001), as well as low levels of death anxiety (Knight & Elfenbein, 1993), have higher levels of death acceptance, and have positive death concepts (Harding et al., 2005). As with most multidimensional variables, conflicting data has been reported. Harding et al (2005) suggests that religious individuals may experience a degree of death anxiety, while also experiencing a degree of death acceptance.

Fear of Death

Fear of death, more commonly regarded as death anxiety, is a negative death attitude resulting in an individual*****s slight to severe apprehension and trepidation towards various aspects of death. Multidimensional in nature, fear of death can portray itself in one of three ways: (1) fear of the unknown- what is to come after death, (2) fear of the dying process and the pain that might come from it, and (3) fear of total annihilation, or death of the self- ceasing to be (Abdel-Khalek, 2002). As sustained by past research, viewing death as annihilation has been associated with the greatest amount of death fear, while viewing death as the onset of a new life separate from the biological realm relates to significantly lowered rates of fear (Cicirelli, 2001).

Fear of death has been found to decrease with age and states of health, with the greatest amount of fear observed among younger individuals who are cognitively mature enough to understand the various components of death (Knight & Elfenbein, 1993), as well as the terminally ill and old aged individuals who are aware of death*****s rapidly advancing footsteps (Cicirelli, 2000). Whether young or old, fear of death frequently pivoted around the mutual separation between an individual and his loved ones, life-defining activities, and future pursuits (Noppe & Noppe, 1997).

It can be assumed that a relationship between the type of central worry brought on by the thoughts of death and the age at which these worries are reflected upon has a major impact on the amount of fear experienced by individuals in that age group. For instance, adolescents***** high fear of death rates in comparison to older adults***** low fear of death rates can be rationalized by their desires to reach their future target aspirations and their desires to create long-lasting legacies (Noppe & Noppe).

For older adults, death is no longer the motivator by which desired tasks are completed or by which life is enjoyed to the fullest, for life has almost all come and gone. Furthermore, older adults are no longer strongly attached to any one person, most of their contemporary friends and spouses, people to which they have been closest to in life, having passed away or in the process of doing so (Cicerelli, 2001).

Also, dependent upon the type of death associated explanations children receive from their parents, is the extent by which a child will exhibit fear of death. Receptive, objective, and accurate explanations are negatively correlated to fear of death (Knight, Elfenbein, Capozzi, 2000). The environment in which the child experiences this death is also important. Warm, emotionally supportive, and communicative environments relate to reduced amounts of fear (Bluck et al., 2008).

Implicit and Explicit Death Attitudes

Death attitudes are measures of perception in which an individual*****s outlook on the connotation of death is qualified as either positive or negative. In an effort to protect themselves from the fear and anxiety produced by negative concepts of death, concepts sometimes *****so aversive that they must be kept out of conscious awareness***** ( Bassett & Dabbs, 2003, p. 352), individuals create implicit and explicit death attitudes. These attitudes diverge in emotional potency and accuracy in order to help bereaved individuals deal with their fear while allowing them lead normal lives. Implicit attitudes are found in the unconscious realm of the human mind, in which a person*****s true attitudes towards death are stored and kept locked away in an effort to keep the body and mind at ease in its environment.

Explicit attitudes are found in the conscious regions of the mind, in which a slightly skewed death concept is stored. While explicit death attitudes have been found to be slight in most individuals and to gradually reduce with the passing of time and age, implicit death attitudes have been found to be extensive and relatively stable throughout specific age stages. Implicit and explicit attitudes have yet to be studied in the various stages of adulthood (Bassett & Dabbs, 2003).

Death Acceptance

Death acceptance is an individual*****s acknowledgement of and acquiescence to death. There are three forms of death acceptance: (1) neutral acceptance, in which death is neither viewed as good or bad, negative or positive, but as a universal mandate which all living organisms must adhere to, (2) approach-***** acceptance, in which death is viewed as the key to a previously locked door, a door that might lead to life after death, and (3) escape-***** acceptance, in which death is viewed as an exit route from a painful, biologically impeded existence (Abdel-Khalek, 2002). Studies show high death acceptance in older individuals, those with low rates of death anxiety, and those with high rates of religiosity (Harding et al., 2005).

Proposed Study

The present study will examine the correlative effects of age, death anxiety, and religiosity on death obsession: importunate, recurring thoughts and ruminations, ideas and images that pivot around death, whether of the self or of another person (Abdel-Khalek, 2005).

Based upon the previous research, it is hypothesized that adults categorized as belonging in the late adulthood stage, experiencing high death anxiety, and low to non-existent levels of religiosity will experience higher rates of death obsession than younger adults experiencing high levels of religiosity and low levels of death anxiety.

Method Participants

The study will be comprised of three distinct groups of participants with a group sample size of 50 for a total of 150 participants. The three groups are categorized as the early adult group (ages 18 to 39), the middle adult group (ages 40 to 64) and the late adult group (ages 65 and older). The participants belonging to the early and late adult groups will be made up of students and ***** from a small liberal arts university located in a small, rural city of western Florida. The participants belonging to the late adult stage will be made up of residents of Edwinola Retirement Community located in a small, rural city of western Florida. The study will attempt to obtain equal numbers of male and female participants as well as a diversified population group congruent with the rural environment of the city in which the study will take place.

Materials and Procedure

Participants in the early and middle adult group will be randomly chosen from a list of full-time students (12 or more credits) and faculty members from the aforementioned university. Participants in the late adult group will be randomly chosen from a list of residential members currently residing in Edwinola. All participants will be given a packet containing: (1) an informed consent sheet, (2) a demographics sheet, (3) a death anxiety measure, (4) a religiosity measure; (5) a death obsession measure; and (6) a spirituality measure. The demographics sheet will consist of the following items: sex, age, ethnicity, level of education, religious affiliation, and perceived extent of a belief in the afterlife. The last item mentioned will consist of a 5-point scale in which participants will indicate no belief with a 1 and an assured belief with a 5.

The death anxiety measure (Appendix A) to be used will be Thorson and Powell*****s (1994) 25-item Revised Death Anxiety Scale (DAS-R) in which participants rate their agreement to death related statements on a 0-4 scale. The religiosity measure (Appendix B) to be used will be Rohrbaugh and *****or*****s (1975) eight-item Religiosity Measure scored on a 0-4 scale which measures four diverse dimensions of religiosity. The death obsession measure (Appendix C) to be used will be Abdel-Khalek*****s (1998) 15-item, 5-point intensity Death Obsession Scale (DOS) in which a high score (range = 15-75) indicates a high obsession rate.

The spirituality measure (Appendix D) to be used will be Hodge*****s (2003) six-item, Intrinsic Spirituality Scale measuring spirituality within the context of internal religiosity, measured on a 0-10 scale. After the participants complete their packet, the informed consent sheet will be separated from the rest of the packet and stored separately to maintain confidentiality.

The reliability and validity information for the aforementioned scales are as follows: Thorson and Powell*****s (1994) DAS-R has a reliability coefficient of .804 and an overall p value of less that .05; Rohrbaugh and *****or*****s (1975) Religiosity Measure has mean validity coefficient of .69 and a reliability coefficient of .90; Abdel-Khalek*****s (1998) DOS has a death anxiety mean validity coefficient of .60 and a reliability coefficient above .90; and finally, Hodge*****s (2003) Intrinsic Spirituality Scale has a mean validity coefficient of *****1.74 times the error measurement***** (Hodge, 2003) and a reliability coefficient of .80.

Results

In order to determine the effects of age (early, middle, and late adulthood), death anxiety, and religiosity on death obsession, a stepwise multiple regression analysis will be conducted with age, death anxiety, and religiosity as the predictors of death obsession. As will be shown in Table 1, there will be [Sufficient / insufficient?] evidence to conclude that age (M = ___, SD = ___), religion (M = ___, SD = ___), and death anxiety (M = ___, SD = ___) are significant predictors of death obsession (M = ___, SD = ___), as measured by the revised DAS-R, Religiosity Measure, and DOS questionnaires, F (__, __) = ___, p = ___.

Pearson*****s r correlations will be conducted in order to determine the individual effects of age, death anxiety, and religiosity on death obsession, as well as the individual effects of: age on death anxiety, religiosity, and spirituality; death anxiety on religiosity and spirituality; and religiosity on spirituality. As will be shown in Table 2, There will be [Sufficient / Insufficient] evidence to conclude that a negative correlation exits between religiosity and death obsession ( r = ____), religiosity and death anxiety ( r = ____), age and death anxiety ( r = ____), and spirituality and death anxiety ( r = ____). As will be shown in Table 3, There will be [Sufficient / Insufficient] evidence to conclude that a positive correlation exists between age and death obsession ( r = ____), death anxiety and death obsession ( r = ____), as well as with religiosity and spirituality ( r = ____), and age and spirituality ( r = ____), and spirituality and death anxiety ( r = ____).

Discussion

The purpose of the present study will be to examine the correlative effects of age, death anxiety, and religiosity on death obsession. It is hypothesized that adults categorized as belonging in the late adulthood stage, experiencing high death anxiety, and low to non-existent levels of religiosity will experience higher rates of death obsession than younger adults experiencing high levels of religiosity and low levels of death anxiety.

Possible Outcome #1: Consistent with the hypothesis, age, death anxiety, and religiosity will be predictive of death obsession. Late age will predict high death obsession scores, lower religiosity and spirituality scores, as well as lower death anxiety scores. High death anxiety will predict high death obsession and low religiosity and spirituality scores. Finally, religiosity will predict low death obsession scores and high spirituality scores.

Possible Outcome #2: Contrary to the hypothesis, age, death anxiety, and religiosity will not be predictive of death obsession. Late age will not predict high death obsession scores, lower religiosity and spirituality scores, as well as lower death anxiety scores. High death anxiety will not predict high death obsession and low religiosity and spirituality scores. Finally, religiosity will not predict low death obsession scores and high spirituality scores.

There are three main reasons which can accurately explain why age, death anxiety, and religiosity area may not be predictive of death obsession. First, as consistent with Cotton and Range (1990), the sample size of each of the groups may be too small to detect a significant predictive effect on the stepwise multiple regression analysis and subsequent correlative analysis. More participants under each of the three distinct age groups (early, middle, late) would be sought and supplemental analysis run on a composite of old and new data. Second, there is a high risk that participants will provide fictitious information when filling the questionnaires, thus skewing the data and distorting the results. In order to evade this problem, all scores two or more standard deviations above the mean will be thrown out. Finally, the ability for older adults to fill out the semi-long questionnaire packet may have a strong impact on the predictive qualities of the mentioned variables on death obsession. Assisting the older adults in filling out their forms may prove beneficial, and maybe imperative, in obtaining accurate data.

Though these specified problems may pose significant threats and thus contribute to the predictive failure of the variables, it is also quite likely that the variables do not predict death obsession. In this case, age, religiosity, and death anxiety would not be a collective predictor of death obsession. Provided that previous research has determined that fear of death is inversely correlated to death acceptance (Harding et al., 2005), religiosity (Harding et al., 2005) and age (Knight & Elfenbein, 1993), and that negative implicit and explicit attitudes have been associated with inaccurate death concepts, low death acceptance, high fear of death, and low levels of religiosity (Bassett & Dabbs, 2003), there is a high possibility that this study may reveal the absence of predictive qualities in the amalgamation of age, anxiety, and religiosity in terms of death obsession.

Future research may be needed in the assessment of the cognitive and behavioral effects of death obsession on individuals who have been diagnosed with it. This subsequent test would assist in determining which variables are accurate predictors of death obsession and in determining the neurological effects of the disorder.

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References

Abdel-Khalek, A. M. (1998). The structure and measurement of death obsession.

Personality and Individual Differences, 24(2), 159-165.

Abdel-Khalek, A. (2005). Happiness and death distress: Two separate factors. Death Studies, 29(10), 949-958.

Abdel-Khalek, A. (2002). Why do we fear death? The construction and validation of the reasons for death fear scale. Death Studies, 26(8), 669-680.

Bassett, J., & Dabbs, J. (2003). Evaluating explicit and implicit death attitudes in funeral and university students. Mortality, 8(4), 352-371.

Bluck, S., Dirk, J., Mackay, M., & Hux, A. (2008). Life experience with death: Relation to death attitudes and to the use of death-related memories. Death Studies, 32(6), 524- 549.

Cicerelli, V. (2001). Personal meanings of death in older adults and young adults in relation to their first fears of death. Death Studies, 25(8), 663-683.

Cotton, C., & Range, L. (1990). Children*****'s death concepts: Relationship to cognitive functioning, age, experience with death, fear of death, and hopelessness. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 19(2), 123-127.

Hodge, R. (2003). Intrinsic spirituality scale: A new six-item instrument assessing the salience of

spirituality as a motivational construct. Journal of Social Service Research, 30(1), 41-61.

Harding, S., Flannelly, K., Weaver, A., & Costa, K. (2005). The influence of religion on death anxiety and death acceptance. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 8(4), 253-261.

Knight, K., & Elfenbein, M. (1993). Relationship of death education to the anxiety, fear, and meaning associated with death. Death Studies, 17(5), 411-425.

Knight, K., Elfenbein, M., & Capozzi, L.(2000). Relationship of recollection of first death experience to current death attitudes. Death Studies, 24(3), 201-221.

Noppe, I., & Noppe, L. (1997). Evolving meanings of death during early, middle, and later adolescence. Death Studies, 21(3), 253-275.

Rohrbaugh, J., & *****or, R. (1975). Religiosity in youth: A personal control against deviant behavior?. Journal of Personality, 43(1), 136-155.

Thorson, J., & Powell, F. (1994). A Revised Death Anxiety Scale. Death anxiety handbook: Research, instrumentation, and application (pp. 31-43). Philadelphia, PA US: Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from PsycINFO database.

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