A rational approach to rational suicide.

Suicide is a reaction to internal and external sources of stress and the impact of life events. In the elderly these situations are prevalent in many who are not suicidal and instead choose life. They represent what may be called rational nonsuicide. They are far more frequent than rational suicide. Nevertheless, considerably more is written about rational suicide than its alternative. The reasons for this phenomenon are reviewed, and suggestions are made for a rational approach to the affirmation of life rather than its rejection, even to the very end.     

Terror Management and Personality: Variations in the Psychological Defense Against the Awareness of Mortality

Drawing on terror management theory (TMT), we discuss the psychological motivations that shape personality at two levels: the characteristically human personality common to us all and the individual differences that distinguish some people from others. TMT posits that the motivation to protect the self against deep-rooted fears about mortality drives people to maintain meaningful, reliable conceptions of reality and positive evaluations of themselves, two broad tendencies that form the foundation of every person’s personality. We review studies showing that mortality reminders increase efforts to bolster cultural sources of meaning and self-esteem in similar ways across individuals and cultures. TMT also posits that individual differences in personality partly reflect the different sources of meaning and self-esteem that people invest in to assuage mortality fears. We review evidence that individual differences predict the degree and direction of people’s defensive responses to mortality reminders. Directions for future research are discussed.     

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN MOTHERS OF INFANT

This study explored the association between interpersonal factors and depressive symptoms in first-time mothers over the first two years of parenthood. An interpersonal style characterized by dependency, recollections of rejection in childhood, and current relationship characteristics was assessed in a nonclinical sample of 133 women. The final model explained 52% of the variance in depressive symptoms at 24 months. Controlling for initial symptom levels, interpersonal variables explained 24% of the outcome variance. The findings suggest that two interpersonal attributes, peer rejection in childhood and a dependent interpersonal style, are particularly important to our understanding of depressive symptomatology.     

The Effect of Erroneous Knowledge of Results on Skill Acquisition when Augmented Information is Redundant

Even though it can be shown that verbal knowledge of results (KR) is redundant with sensory feedback for learning certain motor skills, such findings do not eliminate the possibility that when KR is available it influences underlying learning processes. In order to examine the function of KR more closely, two experiments were designed in which the subjects received conflicting information about their own sensory feedback and the KR presented by the experimenter. In Experiment 1, two erroneous-KR groups, a correct-KR group, and a no-KR group performed 150 practice trials on a simple anticipation timing task and then performed three no-KR retention tests of 30 trials each following intervals of 10 minutes, 1 week, and 1 month. The results supported previous findings that providing correct KR is redundant in anticipation tasks. However, learning was influenced by KR as subjects performed according to the erroneous KR information, thereby ignoring their sensory feedback even after a 1-month interval. In Experiment 2, subjects practised a more complex striking response for the anticipation task for 75 trials and then performed no-KR retention trials either immediately, or 1 day or 1 week later. One of the groups received erroneous KR after 50 practice trials with correct KR. The results confirmed and extended those from Experiment 1, as erroneous KR, even after initial practice with correct KR, influenced retention performance. These results indicate that although KR provides information that is not needed to learn anticipation timing skills, this augmented verbal information is a dominant source of information that influences underlying cognitive processes involved in learning motor skills.     

Gaining knowledge via other minds: Children's flexible trust in others as sources of information

In five experiments, we examined 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds’ understanding that they could gain knowledge indirectly from someone who had seen something they had not. Consistent with previous research, children judged that an informant, who had seen inside a box, knew its contents. Similarly, when an informant marked a picture to indicate her suggestion as to the content of the box, 3‐ to 4‐year‐olds trusted this more frequently when the informant had seen inside the box than when she had not. Going beyond previous research, 3‐ to 4‐year‐olds were also sensitive to informants’ relevant experience when they had to look over a barrier to see the marked picture, or ask for the barrier to be raised. Yet when children had to elicit the informant's suggestion, rather than just consult a suggestion already present, even 4‐ to 5‐year‐olds were no more likely to do so when the informant had seen the box's content than when she had not, and no more likely to trust the well‐informed suggestion than the uninformed one. We conclude that young children who can ask questions may not yet fully understand the process by which they can gain accurate information from someone who has the experience they lack.     

Adjustment in aging: the roles of life stress, hassles, and self-efficacy

This study examines the relationship of life stress, daily hassles, and perceived self-efficacy to adjustment in a community sample of 32 men and 32 women between ages 65 and 75. In a structured interview, negative life change events, daily hassles, self-efficacy, depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and negative well being were assessed. Both negative life events and daily hassles were related to psychological distress and physical symptoms for men, and hassles were associated with psychological distress and physical symptoms for women. An inverse relationship between self-efficacy and maladjustment was also found. Hassles showed the most powerful relationship to distress.     

Book reviews

TOATES, F. Animal Behaviour: A Systems Approach. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. 1980. Pp. 299. Hardback £17. Paper back £6.40 ISBN 0 471 27724.

DICKINSON, A. Contemporary Animal Learning Theory. Cambridge: University Press. 1980. Pp. 177. Hardback £12.50. Paperback £3.95. ISBN 0 521 23469 7.     

The heterogeneity of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and conduct problems: Cognitive inhibition,emotion regulation,emotionality, and disorganized attachment

This study examined the contributions of several important domains of functioning to attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and conduct problems. Specifically, we investigated whether cognitive inhibition, emotion regulation, emotionality, and disorganized attachment made independent and specific contributions to these externalizing behaviour problems from a multiple pathways perspective. The study included laboratory measures of cognitive inhibition and disorganized attachment in 184 typically developing children (M age = 6 years, 10 months, SD = 1.7). Parental ratings provided measures of emotion regulation, emotionality, and externalizing behaviour problems. Results revealed that cognitive inhibition, regulation of positive emotion, and positive emotionality were independently and specifically related to ADHD symptoms. Disorganized attachment and negative emotionality formed independent and specific relations to conduct problems. Our findings support the multiple pathways perspective on ADHD, with poor regulation of positive emotion and high positive emotionality making distinct contributions to ADHD symptoms. More specifically, our results support the proposal of a temperamentally based pathway to ADHD symptoms. The findings also indicate that disorganized attachment and negative emotionality constitute pathways specific to conduct problems rather than to ADHD symptoms.     

The contribution of personality characteristics to the relationship between social support and perceived physical health

Although a great deal of research has been conducted on the relationship between social support and physical health, the contribution of personality characteristics to this relationship has rarely been assessed. Structural equation modeling was employed to derive and test a model of the direct and indirect relationships between personality characteristics, social network size, the perceived availability of support, socially supportive behaviors, and perceived physical health with a sample of Pennsylvania adults. Significant paths indicate that individuals who perceive themselves as affiliative and as help seekers and help givers report larger social networks, receive more socially supportive behaviors, and perceive that more support is available to them. The perception that support is available shared a direct relationship with perceived physical health. The utility of including multiple measures of social support and personality characteristics related to receiving support in investigations of the relationship between social support and physical health is discussed.