The Changing Relationship Between Unemployment and Suicide

The relationship between unemployment and suicide has changed over time and in particular during the Great Recession. Using state‐level panel data covering the years 1979–2010, the study indicates that unemployment's impact was insignificant during the first half of the sample period, but was highly significant during the second half. In addition, while the impact has generally become stronger over recent decades, it fell during the Great Recession although remained significant. Evidence suggesting that increased economic insecurity helps explain the growing sensitivity over time is offered. The models fit the data well, explaining up to 90% of the variation in state suicide rates.     

Explanation and Evidence in Informal Argument

A substantial body of evidence shows that people tend to rely too heavily on explanations when trying to justify an opinion. Some research suggests these errors may arise from an inability to distinguish between explanations and the evidence that bears upon them. We examine an alternative account, that many people do distinguish between explanations and evidence, but rely more heavily on unsubstantiated explanations when evidence is scarce or absent. We examine the philosophical and psychological distinctions between explanation and evidence, and show that participants use explanations as a substitute for missing evidence. Experiment 1 replicates the results of other researchers, but further shows that participants generate more evidence when they are not constrained by their lack of data. Merely mentioning a source of data can alter both their evaluation (Experiment 2) and their production (Experiment 3) of explanations and evidence. In Experiment 4, we show that participants can explicitly consider the availability of evidence and other pragmatic factors when evaluating arguments. Finally, we consider the implications of using explanations to replace missing evidence as a strategy in argument.