The Distillation of “VISCI”: Towards a Better Identification of Suicidal Inmates

The “Viennese Instrument for Suicidality in Correctional Institutions” (VISCI) presented here is based on the results of a large case‐control study and on research on literature examining suicide prevention in general and in the prison population in particular. The aim of this study was to validate the properties of the VISCI to differentiate between suicides and nonsuicides. The sensitivity and specificity of the VISCI was tested in the files of 55 correctional suicides, and 110 controls. VISCI differentiated well between suicides and nonsuicides. The routine administration of the VISCI may help to direct the existing professional attention to inmates with the highest need.     

Psychological effects of urban and rural domiciles

The purpose of the investigation was to examine some problems concerning physical and mental differences between the population born and living in a large urban community (Group A), those who had moved from rural to urban setting (Group B), and stationary rural subjects (Group C). Each group consisted of 100 men between the ages of 19–25 years (total N= 300).     

Unsere Schwierigkeiten Mit Dem Geistigen

Theorizing about something we tend to conceive of it as objective and admitting, in principle, of a clear-cut distinction between what it is in its own right and what we believe about it. Obviously this tendency gets us into trouble if we theorize about the mental, and it is the tenet of this paper that the temptation to objectify the mental is the main source of our notorious difficulties with it. Evidence is presented from a variety of fields, from set theory, semantics and epistemology to doxastic logic. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Time perception,vigilance and decision theory

A statistical decision hypothesis is outlined to account for a progressive lengthening of judgments which occurs when a series of reproductions of a time interval is made without interpolation of a standard. Three experiments are reported in which it is found that this serial effect can be manipulated by hypothetical payoff conditions, that the effect still occurs when subjects are told to count while making their judgments, and that two successive judgments are sufficient to demonstrate the effect if enough subjects are used. The phenomenon is related to recent studies of vigilance in which statistical decision theory has been applied. It is suggested that serial reproductions of time intervals may perhaps be a more sensitive index of the factors underlying vigilance than the traditional measures involving long sessions with weak, sporadic signals.