Now, students study the psychology of grief. Mortuary schools were the first to teach psychology of grief. It was later picked up by the other schools who were saying, hey, grief is one of the contributing factors to people's mental attitude and mental balance and how they deal with things. One of the biggest is that it is expensive. If you compare the cost of a funeral to any other service where you're compensating people for time, it's really quite inexpensive.
Some people buy a nice casket because that is the lifestyle they have.
Another misconception is that people think that if you have cremation, you can't have a funeral service. Cremation is just a disposition of the body. You can have all the services you want before you have cremation. Also, I've had people who won't shake hands with a mortician because a mortician has touched dead bodies. Now, they may have come from countries where the people who handle dead bodies are ostracized.