A test of Durkheim's theory of suicide in primitive societies.

Primitive societies were classified as high, moderate, or low on independent measures of social integration and social regulation to test Durkheim's theory of suicide. The estimated frequency of suicide did not differ between those societies predicted to have high, moderate, and low suicide rates. Thus, Durkheim's theory was not confirmed. Possible reasons for these results are discussed.     

Mixed reasons,missed givings: The costs of blending egoistic and altruistic reasons in donation requests

Do people give more when benefits to others and oneself are emphasized? We propose that mixing egoistic and altruistic reasons reduces the likelihood of giving by increasing individuals' awareness that a persuasion attempt is occurring, which elicits psychological reactance. In Experiment 1, university alumni were less likely to give money to their alma mater when an electronic donation request emphasized both egoistic and altruistic reasons, compared to either reason alone. In Experiment 2, undergraduates reported lower giving intentions when a donation request emphasized an altruistic and an egoistic reason, compared to either altruistic or egoistic reasons alone. In Experiment 3, undergraduates reported lower intentions to give to the Make-A-Wish Foundation when the donation request featured both egoistic and altruistic reasons; this effect was mediated in two stages by increased persuasion awareness and heightened psychological reactance. This research sheds light on when messages that purport to align self-interest and other-interest can backfire.     

A note on the importance of cultural factors in suicide studies

ABSTRACT: This paper proposes the adoption of a macro level analysis of cultural data by sociologists engaged in suicide studies. It is asserted that an examination of cultural factors contributing to individual stress and of cultural phenomena undergoing rapid change can lead to (1) a clearer understanding of the suicidal individual in his cultural context and (2) the development of suicide prevention programs aimed at alleviating the affects of societal stress. An analysis of the data relating to the correlation between the percentage of white women in the labor force and suicide rates is presented as an example of the application of the suggested approach.     

A methodological note concerning long-term effect of treatment

The long-term effect of treatment is defined as the score change produced directly and indirectly by the treatment during and after the treatment interval. Various instances of combinations of short-term effects, attained during the treatment interval, and of long-term effects are presented. Designs for measuring the short-term and long-term effects are sketched, and suggestions are given for distinguishing between these effects in six representative cases. A multiple-occasion measurement of the long-term effect is recommended.     

Rational suicide: a test of the prescriptions of Epicurus concerning suicide

The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that the individual who believes death is the end and who expects to experience more displeasure than pleasure over the remainder of his life will choose suicide. College students (N = 272) completed questionnaires measuring their beliefs about after-life, expectations of pleasure and displeasure should certain negative events happen to them, and expectations of suicide should these negative events happen to them. Support was not found for the hypothesis. The students who believed that death was the end stated that they would choose to live even if negative events promised them a life of greater displeasure than pleasure.     

Training in the use of double-function terms

Twenty first-, second-, and third-grade chidren were tested, trained, and retested in their use of double-function words (e.g.,hard, deep, bright). Children first understand such words as they refer to inanimate objects, then to people in a physical sense, and last to people in a psychological sense. Wide variations in initial understanding and trainability of double-function words occurred. It is easier to train children to understand a double-function words as applied to a person in a physical sense than in a psychological sense. Words with tactual referents (sweet, warm, dry, cold, hard) are understood earlier than words with visual referents (bright, crooked, sharp, deep) but words with visual referents show greater gains after training. Several possible explanations of these results are discussed.     

Elucidating the neural correlates of egoistic and moralistic self-enhancement

Self-enhancement is the biasing of one’s view of oneself in a positive direction. The brain correlates of self-enhancement remain unclear though it has been reported that the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) may be important for producing self-enhancing responses. Previous studies have not examined whether the neural correlates of self-enhancement depend on the particular domain in which individuals are enhancing themselves. Both moralistic and egoistic words were presented to participants while transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied to the MPFC, precuneus or in a sham orientation. Participants were asked to make decisions as to the words describing themselves, some of which were positive and some of which were negative. It was found the MPFC TMS significantly disrupted egoistic self-enhancement when TMS was delivered to the MPFC. Judgments involving moralistic words were not influenced by TMS. These data provide further evidence that MPFC is involved in self-enhancement, and that the role of MPFC may be selective in this regard.     

A note on the use of triads for paired comparisons

When scaling a large number of stimuli from comparative judgments, considerable savings in time and labor may be realized if stimuli are presented in triad form rather than in pairs. If, forN stimuli, the proper configuration of triads can be assembled so that all possible pairs appear once, the paired judgment matrix may be reproduced with one-third fewer judgments and two-thirds fewer presentations than would be required with complete pairing. A simple procedure is described for enumerating triad configurations for whichN is an odd multiple of three.     

A precedence effect in the processing of verbal information.

When a brief sound is monitored in a sound-reverberating room, it is immediately followed by numerous echoes bounced off the walls and ceiling. Only the first sound to arrive at the ears appears to be used in its localization. This is generally referred to as the precedence effect. If the processing of verbal information is seen as a reverberating system (after Hebb) and rehearsal as the manifestation of the echoes, then an analogous precedence effect can be empirically demonstrated. Such an analogy not only helps explain previously uninterpretable data but also generates a very unique prediction that was confirmed by experimental data. The theoretical implications of the analogy are also discussed.