The application of the random regret minimization model to drivers’ choice of crash avoidance maneuvers

This study explores the plausibility of regret minimization as behavioral paradigm underlying the choice of crash avoidance maneuvers. Alternatively to previous studies that considered utility maximization, this study applies the random regret minimization (RRM) model while assuming that drivers seek to minimize their anticipated regret from their corrective actions. The model accounts for driver attributes and behavior, critical events that made the crash imminent, vehicle and road characteristics, and environmental conditions. Analyzed data are retrieved from the General Estimates System (GES) crash database for the period between 2005 and 2009. The predictive ability of the RRM-based model is slightly superior to its RUM-based counterpart, namely the multinomial logit model (MNL) model. The marginal effects predicted by the RRM-based model are greater than those predicted by the RUM-based model, suggesting that both models should serve as a basis for evaluating crash scenarios and driver warning systems.     

Rates and correlates of undetermined deaths among African Americans: results from the National Violent Death Reporting System

Little is known about the factors associated with undetermined death classifications among African Americans. In this study, the rates of undetermined deaths were assessed, the prevalence of missing information was estimated, and whether the circumstances preceding death differ by race were examined. Data were derived from the 2005-2008 National Violent Death Reporting System. African Americans had higher prevalence of missing information than Whites. African Americans classified as undetermined deaths were more likely to be older, women, never married/single, to have had a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit, and to have had a substance abuse problem. The results suggest that racial differences in the preponderance and the type of evidence surrounding the death may affect death classification.     

Avoidant coping in panic disorder: a yohimbine biological challenge study

Few studies have addressed whether the use of avoidance-oriented coping strategies is related to the development of panic in patients with panic disorder(PD). Self-report, clinician-rated, and physiological data were collected from 42 individuals who participated in a yohimbine biological challenge study, performed under double-blind, placebo-controlled conditions. Participants included 20 healthy controls and 22 currently symptomatic patients who met DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for PD. Consistent with prediction, patients with PD who had higher perceived efficacy of avoidance-oriented strategies in reducing anxiety-related thoughts reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the yohimbine challenge condition as compared to the placebo. Further, patients with PD who had more fear of cognitive dyscontrol, cardiovascular symptoms, and publicly observable anxiety also reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the challenge. Healthy controls who had more fear of cardiovascular symptoms similarly reported increased severity in panic symptoms during the challenge. No effects were found for heart rate response to the challenge agent. These results provide support for the role of avoidance-oriented coping strategies and fear of anxiety-related symptoms as risk and maintenance factors in the development of panic symptoms, particularly within a biological challenge model.     

Posttraumatic Stress and Depression Reactions Among Survivors of the Istanbul November 2003 Terrorist Attacks

This study investigated posttraumatic stress and depression reactions among survivors of the Istanbul November 2003 terrorist bombings that destroyed synagogues, an HSBC bank, and the British General Consulate. One hundred and forty-nine survivors completed a questionnaire measuring exposure, current posttraumatic stress, and depression responses 6 months after the blasts. This study showed that the prevalence rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors was 35.6%?and the rate of depression was 23.5%. PTSD was strongly predicted by perceived life threat, whereas depression was strongly predicted by death of a close friend. Overall, female survivors were found to be more vulnerable to developing posttraumatic stress as well as depression after the terrorist bombings.     

A Trial of Psychopharmacologic Measurement with Projective Techniques

An interactive computer program was developed in the BASIC language to present the performance and inquiry phases of the Rorschach Inkblot Test. As the subjects handled the traditional cards they entered their perceptions into the computer database, guided by instructions presented on the computer display. No assumptions were made about the percepts, but the Klopfer scoring questions were asked directly by the computer during the inquiry. The program scored the test as the subject answered the scoring questions on the keyboard. Thirty subjects were assessed using a test-retest design. One subgroup was tested first by a psychologist, and the other was tested first by the computer. The determinants of the psychologist and computer testing situations were found to be correlated and overall not significantly different except in location and time scores where the media differed.     

Test Sophistication and Faking in the TAT Situation

This study investigated the effects of conscious altering of response (faking) and test sophistication on TAT performance. Thirty-six naive undergraduates and 36 TAT-sophisticated graduate students and clinicians wrote stories to all 20 TAT cards under one of two conditions: standard, and instructions to “fake” hostility. The four groups were then compared by Analysis of Variance on a number of quantitative response measures. Effects of the two experimental variables, sophistication and faking, varied with the response measure, but, in general, faking instructions led to response changes, and sophisticated subjects performed differently than naive ones. Some sex differences were also apparent. It was concluded that sophistication is a factor in how a subject fakes, the sophisticated subjects generally doing a better job of it. The implications for the effect of stimulus pull were discussed and it was concluded that the pull value of the stimulus is not affected by a peripheral response set but is affected by sophistication.     

Child survivors and childbearing; memories from the Holocaust invading the present

In this article—based on 40 video-taped interviews with Jewish child survivors—the author discusses how memories from the Holocaust invade the present and affect one of the most sensitive phases of the life cycle, the period of reproduction. This is discussed as applied psychoanalytic research of oral testimonies. Four areas of knowledge—history, autobiography narrative, cognitive memory research and psychoanalytical theory—are argued to help to elucidate memories and understand the tremendous force which the intersection exerts on them in the present, which is the fundamental idea of this article. The author discusses both the possibility to work through massive traumas, and the distorted concept of time. The Nazi deeds which were intended to eliminate women and children, to split families, that is, break down the continuity of life, affected both those who were directly involved, and those women and men who witnessed these deeds.     

Interpretation(s) of elasticity in operant demand

This brief report provides an account of varying interpretations of elasticity (η ) in the operant demand framework. General references to “demand elasticity” have existed since the Exponential model of operant demand was proposed by Hursh and Silberberg (2008). This term has been used interchangeably with Essential Value (EV), P_MAX, and the rate of change constant α . This report provides an in-depth account of η and the various ways in which this metric has been used to interpret fitted demand functions. A review of relevant mathematic terms, operations associated with differentiating parameters, and worked solutions for η are provided for linear and nonlinear demand functions. The relations between η and EV, P_MAX, and α are described and explained in terms of their mathematical bases and recommendations are provided regarding their individual interpretation. This report concludes with recommendations for providing additional mathematical detail in published works and emphasizing a consistent use of terms when describing aspects of operant demand.