Nicknames of notorious American twentieth‐century deviants: The decline of the folk hero syndrome

This report examines the public use of personal nicknames for notorious American Twentieth Century Deviants. The analysis documents the frequency of nicknames by decade in the twentieth century, the category of the deviant act committed by the person nicknamed, and the connotations of the nicknames. The relationship between the use of nicknames for deviants, and deviants as folk heroes is explored. The data indicate that the public use of personal nicknames for deviants peaks in the 1920's and 1930's and has been declining ever since. This phenomenon parallels the decline in American's belief in the “rags to riches” type of folk hero.     

Individual and collaborative implementation intentions and the promotion of breast self-examination

Implementation intentions, plans relating to when and where behaviours will be performed, have been effective in increasing health behaviour. Two studies are reported that test the impact of this strategy in promoting breast self-examination (BSE), a behaviour shown to aid the early detection of tumours. In study 1, 457 participants were randomly allocated to either implementation intention or control conditions. Implementation intentions significantly increased the likelihood of BSE at one month. The effect of the intervention was marginally significant at six months. Study 2 (N?=?101) tested the efficacy of a collaborative implementation intention intervention that required female participants to plan, with a partner, collaborative BSE performance. Results indicated that both implementation intentions and partner involvement were associated with BSE performance at one month, whilst the collaborative implementation intention intervention showed a 100% success rate. Collaborative implementation intentions may reduce forgetfulness. Interventions that encourage partner involvement in planning and enacting behaviour appear to enhance implementation intention utility.     

The Effectiveness of a Spiritually-Based Intervention to Alleviate Subsyndromal Anxiety and Minor Depression Among Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a spiritually-based intervention in the alleviation of subsyndromal anxiety and minor depression in an elderly population. Twenty-two residents of six continuing care communities diagnosed with minor depression participated in this study. There was a significant decrease in anxiety and a trend toward decreased depression. In addition, participants who continued to use the Prayer Wheel had a decrease in depression scores, while those who did not had an increase in depression scores. These findings suggest that use of the Prayer Wheel may promote psychological well-being among older adults.