Consumer decision making and aging: A commentary from a public policy/marketing perspective

Efforts to assist older adults with cognitive deficits can take one of three paths: law, education or marketing. Legal protections have proved insufficient. Government educational efforts are typically dryly factual and likely to go unheeded. With the growing size of the older adult market, the independent efforts of both for-profit and social marketers to develop products and services that can help this population remain functionally healthy and independent are likely to be successful. Both governments and insurance companies should be motivated to help subsidize these entrepreneurial efforts given the considerably higher costs of caring for the elderly in an institution.     

Ethical decision making among family therapists and individual therapists

In this study, we investigated the ethical decision making of 30 individual and 30 family therapists in order to detect the types of decision making used by practicing therapists. Informants responded to three ethical dilemmas. Two of the situations were hypothetical. The third dilemma was a situation the informant had experienced in practice. Each interview was assessed for decision-making style, using content analysis. Kohlberg's justice reasoning and Gilligan's care reasoning provided the conceptual foundations for this analysis. The results suggest that both family and individual therapists prefer care reasoning on all dilemma types. There was significantly more care reasoning demonstrated on the personal dilemma than on the hypothetical dilemmas. Characteristics of informants did not provide clear explanations for the differences found in reasoning.     

On the role of recognition in decision making

In 2 experiments, the authors sought to distinguish between the claim that recognition of an object is treated simply as a cue among others for the purposes of decision making in a cue-learning task from the claim that recognition is attributed a special status with fundamental, noncompensatory properties. Results of both experiments supported the former interpretation. When recognition had a high predictive validity, it was relied on (solely) by the majority of participants; however, when other cues in the environment had higher validity, recognition was ignored, and these other cues were used. The results provide insight into when, where, and why recognition is used in decision making and also question the elevated status assigned to recognition in some frameworks (e.g., D. G. Goldstein & G. Gigerenzer, 2002).     

Religion and the decision to donate organs: Exploring the potential role of religious leaders

The two‐step flow model of communication (Katz, 1957 ) suggests opinion leaders obtain critical information from the mass media and, in turn, communicate this information to interpersonal contacts such as friends, family and co‐workers. It is suggested that religious leaders (RLs) may serve as opinion leaders on the topic of organ donation by debunking donation myths, promoting donation during worship services, or communicating the benefit of donation to families faced with the opportunity to participate in living or cadaveric donation. The current study examined the personal knowledge, experiences, and willingness to communicate about organ donation in a sample of RLs (N = 59) in Rochester, New York. Structured interviews were conducted in summer and fall of 2009 with a random sample of RLs. Results indicate a disparity between RLs' expressed personal support for donation and their engagement in donor registration. Approximately one‐quarter of RLs have spoken about donation during a religious service and many indicate their knowledge is not sufficient to discuss organ donation in detail. Results elaborate on how RLs may be trained to serve as opinion leaders in the promotion of organ donation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Living the high life: social status influences real estate decision making

Social status is associated with the vertical spatial dimension, with people conceptualizing higher social status with higher vertical positions. Two experiments tested whether this association influences relatively real‐world decisions about others by asking participants to act as real estate agents, aiding in the relocation of clients who explicitly or implicitly varied in social status. Across experiments, higher status clients were placed into higher elevation housing options. This influence of social status persisted when strategy‐aware participants were removed from analysis, and was not influenced by individual differences in social dominance or locus of control. Abstract concepts of social status are understood through associations with vertical space, and these mapping of abstract concepts to concrete percepts prove influential in guiding daily decisions.     

Sustainable development, engineering and multinational corporations: Ethical and public policy implications

This paper explores the concept of sustainable development and its ethical and public policy implications for engineering and multinational corporations. Sustainable development involves achieving objectives in three realms: ecological (sustainable scale), economic (efficient allocation) and social (just distribution). While movement toward a sustainable society is dependent upon satisfying all three objectives, questions of just distribution and other questions of equity are often left off the table or downplayed when engineers and corporate leaders consider sustainable development issues. Indeed, almost all the effort of engineers and engineering organizations on the issue of sustainable development has been focused on striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection. Similarly, corporate approaches rely on technological fixes to the challenges posed by sustainable development. While there have been some efforts aimed at incorporating environmental and social equity concepts into engineering codes of ethics, social concerns have been secondary to environmental issues. The incongruity between the ideal of sustainable development and the way in which it is typically characterized by the engineering and business communities has significant implications for engineering and public policy, engineering ethics, and the potential roles of engineers and multinational corporations as facilitators of a transition to a sustainable society. Presented at the Engineering Foundation Conference on “Ethics for Science and Engineering Based International Industries”, Durham, NC, USA, September 1997. An earlier version was presented at and appeared in the proceedings of the “1997 International Symposium on Technology and Society”, IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology, Glasgow, Scotland, UK, June 1997. The author, an Assistant Prolessor of Multidisciplinary Studies, teaches in the Science, Technology and Society Program and is Director of the Benjamin Franklin Scholars Program, a dual-degree program in engineering and humanities/social sciences.     

Sedation and care at the end of life

This special issue of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics takes up the question of palliative sedation as a source of potential concern or controversy among Christian clinicians and thinkers. Christianity affirms a duty to relieve unnecessary suffering yet also proscribes euthanasia. Accordingly, the question arises as to whether it is ever morally permissible to render dying patients unconscious in order to relieve their suffering. If so, under what conditions? Is this practice genuinely morally distinguishable from euthanasia? Can one ever aim directly at making a dying person unconscious, or is it only permissible to tolerate unconsciousness as an unintended side effect of treating specific symptoms? What role does the rule of double effect play in making such decisions? Does spiritual or psychological suffering ever justify sedation to unconsciousness? What are the theological and spiritual aspects of such care? This introduction describes how the authors in this special issue wrestle with such questions and shows how each essay relates to the author’s individual position on palliative sedation, as developed in greater detail within his contribution.     

Brain death, religious freedom, and public policy: New Jersey's landmark legislative initiative

"Whole brain death" (neurological death) is well-established as a legal standard of death across the country. Recently, New Jersey became the first state to enact a statute recognizing a personal religious exemption (a conscience clause) protecting the rights of those who object to neurological death. The Act also mandates adoption through the regulatory process of uniform and up-to-date clinical criteria for determining neurological death.     

The role of attitudes in memory-based decision making

Frequently, considerable knowledge of the attributes of decision alternatives is available in memory so as to permit a thoughtful and deliberate choice. However, in many instances, individuals neglect to use such knowledge and instead rely on "attitude-based" strategy to make a memory-based decision. The findings from two experiments suggest that as to the motivation to make a correct decision or the opportunity to use the available attribute knowledge decreases, the likelihood that attitudes will guide a memory-based decision increases. The findings illustrate the functional role attitudes play in guiding decisions and behavior. By providing a ready means of evaluating choice alternatives, attitudes enable an individual to make a decision relatively quickly and effortlessly.     

Decisions at the end of life: Catholic tradition.

Medical decisions regarding end-of-life care have undergone significant changes in recent decades, driven by changes in both medicine and society. Catholic tradition in medical ethics offers clear guidance in many issues, and a moral framework accessible to those who do not share the same faith as well as to members of its faith community. In some areas, a Catholic perspective can be seen clearly and confidently, such as in teachings on the permissibility of suicide and euthanasia. In others, such as withdrawal of nutrition and hydration, the Church does not yet speak with one voice and has not closed out the discussion. Yet, it is not in the teaching on individual issues that a Catholic moral tradition offers the most help and comfort, but in its account of what it means to lead a life in Christ, and to prepare for a Christian death. As in the problem of pain and suffering, it is the spiritual support more than the ethical guidance that helps both patients and physicians bear the unbearable and fathom the unfathomable.     

The relationship between religious orientation and happiness: the mediating role of purpose in life

Studies have demonstrated a positive association between religiosity and happiness and that other variables including purpose in life may account for this relationship. Few studies have examined the relationship between religious orientation and happiness, therefore the present study investigated whether purpose in life mediates the relationship between religious orientation and happiness. Three hundred and forty-two university students (men?=?117 and women?=?225) from Australia participated in the study. The results indicate that for women, purpose in life mediates the relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and happiness and for men, purpose in life mediates the relationship between extrinsic social religious orientation and happiness. The results are unexpected as intrinsic religious orientation negatively predicted happiness, whereas extrinsic social religious orientation positively predicted happiness. These findings suggest that further studies are needed to advance the understanding of these complex relationships.     

Influences of sex composition,decision rule,and decision consequences in small group policy making

Previous research has indicated sex differences in style of interaction for members in small groups. It was assumed that some of these sex differences could be attributed to demand characteristics in relation to specific topics discussed by group members in earlier investigations. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relative importance of two such demand characteristics, decision rule (consensus rule vs. majority rule), and decision consequence (high vs. low consequences), in addition to the sex composition of the group membership. Adherence to the group decision was also studied. On a topic previously rated as important, 16 four-person groups of males and the same number of female groups met and deliberated on a decision regarding an academic policy. Later these undergraduate students indicated their preference on the decision topic. The results showed male—female differences not accounted for by decision rule, decision consequence, or group decision post-test change. Explanation of the sex differences was offered in terms of varying academic aspiration levels and incongruency with attained academic achievement. The results also lend partial support for the importance of some operating demand characteristics, as yet unidentified.