The Influence of Geographic Mobility on Nearly Lethal Suicide Attempts

T eenagers and young adults are very mobile and mobility has been identified as a potential risk factor for suicidal behavior. We conducted a population‐based, case‐control study of nearly lethal suicide attempts with 153 cases and 513 controls. Study participants were asked about changing residence over the past 12 months. Results indicate that moving in the past 12 months is positively associated with a nearly lethal suicide attempt (adjusted odds ratio of 2.1, with 95% confidence interval of 1.4–3.3), as are specific characteristics of the move (e.g., frequency, recency, distance, and difficulty staying in touch). These findings confirm and extend prior ecologic research by demonstrating a relationship, at the individual level, between the geographic mobility of adolescents and young adults and nearly lethal suicide attempts.     

Self‐Report and Psychophysiological Responses to Fear Appeals

This study was designed to assess the relationship between self‐report and psychophysiological responses to fear appeals and behavioral changes elicited by these. Ninety‐two subjects watched one of four messages that varied in level of threat (high vs. low) and efficacy (high vs. low). Concomitantly, psychophysiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance) were registered. Perceived threat and efficacy varied according to the characteristics of the message. High‐threat messages elicited significantly different levels of autonomic arousal than low‐threat messages. Following of behavioral recommendation was higher among subjects who were exposed to the high threat / high efficacy stimulus, those who reported high perceived threat, and for those who showed an autonomic response pattern related to the facilitation of attentional processes.     

Trump Cards and Klein Bottles: On the Collective of the Individual

This paper develops a neglected area in psychoanalytic theorizing: namely the collective aspects of individual subjectivity in the one-to-many object relationship. Using group theory allows us to describe this point of articulation between the individual and the group, allowing a more nuanced theoretical development of the social link in psychoanalysis. Subjectivity is inter-subjectivity in a radical way that extends beyond a singular one and singular other to pluralities of differences. We are both particles and waves; our subjectivity has a double provenance. This makes subjectivity inherently dynamic, inherently unstable, inherently dependent on groups of others, just as groups of others depend on the individuals that comprise them.     

Urban Thinkscape: Infusing Public Spaces with STEM Conversation and Interaction Opportunities

ABSTRACT

How can we transform places where people gather or wait into hubs for interaction and playful learning? Bus stops offer one setting in which to test this idea. Urban Thinkscape reimagines an everyday bus stop in an under-resourced area as an interaction zone instead of merely a place to wait for a ride. Results suggest that embedding playful learning into architectural design is associated with increases in targeted types of caregiver interaction and child language use. Compared to pre-installation data as well as data from a control site (a neighborhood playground), Urban Thinkscape suggests that we can build public spaces in ways that invite the kinds of interactions known to support later learning in language and STEM.     

Control by Contextual Stimuli in Novel Second-Order Conditional Discriminations

The Psychological Record - Eighteen undergraduates participated in studies designed to examine the factors that produce transfer of contextual functions to novel stimuli in second-order conditional...