Suicide attempts in runaway youths

This study explored suicidal behavior in 291 adolescents who were using runaway shelters in St. Louis. Thirty percent of the runaways reported having attempted suicide in the past. The suicide attempters had significantly more behavioral and mental health problems, and reported having more family members and more friends with problems, than nonattempters. A logistic regression showed that youths' substance use, behavior problems, family instability, and sex all helped to explain their suicide attempts. Most of the attempters made their first attempt by their midteens. One-quarter made their latest attempt shortly before entering the shelter, and one-fifth stated that they would still consider suicide. The great majority of attempts were not preplanned, but one-third followed troubles or arguments at home and feelings of confusion and depression. Remarkably, half of the teenage suicide attempters never received any professional help following their attempt.     

Computers and commitment to a public management decision: An experiment

Based on results of an experiment, hypotheses are tested concerning the effects of computer use on decision commitment. The experiment required subjects to make an adoption decision regarding a hypothetical government agency's innovation. Subjects could choose from a variety of information sets, some computer based, some not, before making the decision. After their decision the subjects were given “new evidence” that contradicted their initial position. Two experimental treatments included more difficult access to the computer-based information and higher cost for the computer-based information. Results indicate that access difficulty diminishes confidence in decisions and leads to lesser commitment. However, the cost of the computer information seems to have little bearing on decision commitment. Barry Bozeman is director of the Technology and Information Policy Program of the Maxwell School of Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse NY 13244-4010. There he is professor of public policy and administration and affiliate professor of engineering. His research has focused on organization theory and public management, science and technology policy, and the use of technical information in decision-making. R.F. Shangraw, Jr. is vice president of Independent Project Analysis, Inc., Great Falls, Virginia. Previously, he was assistant professor of public administration at Syracuse University. His research interests include information management, decision-making, and public policy applications of expert systems.     

Rational-emotive therapy and the christian client

In some cases a person's religious beliefs can cause or exaccerbate emotional problems. Sometimes religious concepts can be used to ameliorate a client's problems. In dealing with Christian clients, the RET therapist can utilize the teachings and actions of Jesus in leading a client to recognize irrational beliefs. This paper illustrates and discusses rational teachings and actions of Jesus as regards four basic irrational beliefs and eleven underlying irrational beliefs.Sandra D.M. Warnock, M.A., served as a missionary to Hawaii with the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and as Minister of Outreach at Vinton Baptist Church, Vinton, Virginia. She was Senior Staff Clinician at Hollins Communications Research Institute in Hollins College, Virginia and is currently an adjunct lecturer in Psychology at Southside Virginia Community College in Keysville, Virginia.     

Errors in the quantification of uncertainty: A product of heuristics or minimal probability knowledge base?

The use of intuitive heuristics (e. g. representativeness and availability) has been put forward as an explanation for peoples' assignment of probabilities (Tversky and Kahneman, 1971). This phenomenon is seen as robust since experts as defined by education (professional psychologisis), despite advanced training in statistics and methodology, rely on the same heuristics as novices (lay people). Both experts and novices, as defined by education, were studied in a series of experiments and further classified as experts and novices according to their probability knowledge base, prior to receiving (or not) a brief (15-minute) training session. Immediately following training, subjects completed a probability test which consisted of ten Tversky and Kahneman (e. g. 1974) problems. The training significantly increased the number of problems correctly solved on the probability test and eliminated the expert/novice education classification. The results of a follow-up test 5 weeks after the experiment indicated that the training group maintained its superior performance. It is proposed that failure to use proper methods of probability assignment may not be due to intrinsic human inference biases or heuristics, but is a result of a minimal probability knowledge base.     

Age and scholarly impact

The claim that older scientists generate research of lower quality than do younger scientists was tested through two analyses in which the age distribution of authors of frequently cited articles in psychology journals was compared with the age distribution of authors of low-impact articles published in the same journals. Most high-impact articles were published by relatively young psychologists, but so were most low-impact articles. When allowance was made for relative numerical representation, there was no evidence that publications from older scientists have less impact. Results are discussed in the context of methodological issues in evaluation of relations between age and scientific achievement.     

Electronic language: A study of word processing by emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in residential treatment

The word-processing language use of a small group of severely emotionally disturbed children and adolescents was compared with their handwritten productions. A content analysis based on a total sample of 4,112 words was performed to explore the thematic and structrual language differences between the two writing modes. The findings indicate that the computer-mediated writing tended to improve some aspects of thematic expression, while the handwritten mode was preferable for certain structural characteristics.     

Automation of learning-set testing: The video-task paradigm

Researchers interested in studying discrimination learning in primates have typically utilized variations in the Wisconsin General Test Apparatus (WGTA). In the present experiment, a new testing apparatus for the study of primate learning is proposed. In the video-task paradigm, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) respond to computer-generated stimuli by manipulating a joystick. Using this apparatus, discrimination learning-set data for 2 monkeys were obtained. Performance on Trial 2 exceeded 80% within 200 discrimination learning problems. These data illustrate the utility of the video-task paradigm in comparative research. Additionally, the efficient learning and rich data that were characteristic of this study suggest several advantages of the present testing paradigm over traditional WGTA testing.