Comparing models of helper behavior to actual practice in telephone crisis intervention: a Silent Monitoring Study of Calls to the U.S. 1-800-SUICIDE Network

Models of telephone crisis intervention in suicide prevention and best practices were developed from a literature review and surveys of crisis centers. We monitored 2,611 calls to 14 centers using reliable behavioral ratings to compare actual interventions with the models. Active listening and collaborative problem-solving models describe help provided. Centers vary greatly in the nature of interventions and their quality according to predetermined criteria. Helpers do not systematically assess suicide risk. Some lives may have been saved but occasionally unacceptable responses occur. Recommendations include the need for quality assurance, development of standardized practices and research relating intervention processes to outcomes.     

Investigations of a reproductive processing advantage in memory

Previous work has shown that processing words for their survival value improves memory. If this survival processing effect reflects an evolutionary adaptation in memory, processing words for their reproductive value should also improve memory. Across three experiments, participants rated words for their relevance in reproductive scenarios. In Experiment 1, participants rated adjectives (traits) for their relevance in finding a mate, evaluating a coworker, or in terms of their pleasantness. Mate processing produced better memory than pleasantness ratings, but not coworker processing. In Experiment 2, participants rated traits for their relevance in detecting sexual or emotional infidelity. Neither processing condition produced better memory compared to pleasantness ratings, but there were several unpredicted interactions involving participant sex and jealousy responses. In Experiment 3, participants rated gifts for their appropriateness in a romantic date or a housewarming party, or in terms of their pleasantness. Date processing and housewarming processing both improved recall compared to pleasantness rating, but date processing and housewarming processing did not produce differences compared to each other. Overall, the current study demonstrates very little evidence of a reproductive processing effect, and nothing approaching the magnitude of previous work on the survival processing effect.     

Detecting analogical resemblance without retrieving the source analogy

We examined whether people can detect analogical resemblance to an earlier experimental episode without being able to recall the experimental source of the analogical resemblance. We used four-word analogies (e.g., robin-nest/beaver-dam), in a variation of the recognition-without-cued-recall method (Cleary, 2004). Participants studied word pairs (e.g., robin-nest) and were shown new word pairs at test, half of which analogically related to studied word pairs (e.g., beaver-dam) and half of which did not. For each test pair, participants first attempted to recall an analogically similar pair from the study list. Then, regardless of whether successful recall occurred, participants were prompted to rate the familiarity of the test pair, which was said to indicate the likelihood that a pair that was analogically similar to the test pair had been studied. Across three experiments, participants demonstrated an ability to detect analogical resemblance without recalling the source analogy. Findings are discussed in terms of their potential relevance to the study of analogical reasoning and insight, as well as to the study of familiarity and recognition memory.     

Rear negativity: Verbal messages coming from behind are perceived as more negative

Many studies have explored the evaluative effects of vertical (up/down) or horizontal (left/right) spatial locations. However, little is known about the role of information that comes from the front and back. Basing our investigations on multiple theoretical considerations, we propose that spatial location of sounds is a cue for message valence, such that a message coming from behind is interpreted as more negative than a message presented in front of a listener. Here we show across a variety of manipulations and dependent measures that this effect occurs in the domain of social information. Our data are most compatible with theoretical accounts which propose that social information presented from behind is associated with uncertainty and lack of control, which is amplified in conditions of self-relevance.