Gender,Marriage, and Suicide Acceptability: A Comparative Analysis

The previous work on suicide acceptability hasneglected gender specific analysis of the marriagesuicide acceptability linkage as well as cross-nationalanalysis. The present study fills these gaps in the literature through an analysis of 15nations. Controlling for alternative predictors ofsuicide acceptability, marriage lowers suicideacceptability for both males and females. Further,marriage lowers suicide acceptability more for men than forwomen. This gendered relationship has the same strengthin nations both high and low in economic genderequality. The results provide the first comparativeevidence on the subject. The findings support the notionthat men derive relatively more benefits from marriagethan women. However, the strongest correlates of suicideacceptability (e.g., religiosity, liberalism, French residence) affect men and womenequally.     

Sources of Dual-Task Interference: Evidence From Human Electrophysiology

When an individual attempts to perform two tasks at the same time, the tasks often interfere with each other. This interference has been studied for several decades with the psychological refractory period paradigm, in which two targets that require independent responses are presented on each trial, separated by a variable delay period; interference typically takes the form of increased response times for the second target at short interstimulus delays. The present study used electrophysiological recordings to determine whether a specific index of perception and categorization (the P3 wave) is delayed in the same manner as response times. Although response times for the second target were found to be greatly delayed at short interstimulus intervals, the P3 wave was not substantially delayed. This finding indicates that there was minimal interference during target identification and categorization and that the prolongation of response times in this paradigm primarily reflects a delay in a relatively late process, such as response selection.     

Nordenfelt's Theory of Disability

This paper is an attempt to provide a critical evaluation of the theory of disability put forward by Lennart Nordenfelt. The paper is in five sections. The first sets out the main elements of Nordenfelt's theory. The second section elaborates the theory further, identifies a tension in the theory, and three kinds of problems for it. The tension derives from Nordenfelt's attempt to respect two important but conflicting constraints on a theory of health. The problems derive from characterisation of the goals of persons; the difficulty which Nordenfelt has in respecting the plausible view that there is a distinction between illness and disability; and the presence in the theory of other strongly counter-intuitive implications. In section three a defence of Nordenfelt is attempted from within the resources available within his own theory. This defence seeks to exploit his distinctions between a person who is ill and one who is generally disabled and that between first- and second-order disabilities. However, it is concluded that there are insufficient resources within Nordenfelt's theory to fend off the criticisms developed in section two. The fourth section of the paper attempts a defence of Nordenfelt. It is claimed that introduction of the concept of capacity helps to explain differences between problem cases in the theory. Finally, it is shown that at least two important constraints on any theory of disability emerge from the preceding discussion.     

MULTICOMPONENT INTERVENTION FOR AGITATED BEHAVIOR IN A PERSON WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

We evaluated a multicomponent intervention for agitated behavior in a man with probable Alzheimer's disease. Hypotheses about variables controlling his agitated behavior guided intervention design. Based on staff interviews, direct observations, and brief experimental probes, intervention components were chosen to increase rate of reinforcement and decrease aversive aspects of his job. Intervention reduced agitated behavior without disrupting his work rate.     

SCHEDULE EFFECTS OF NONCONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT ON ATTENTION-MAINTAINED DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR IN IDENTICAL QUADRUPLETS

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), a response-independent schedule for the delivery of reinforcement, has been found to be effective in reducing behavior when the reinforcer delivered is responsible for behavioral maintenance. In this study, dense and lean schedules of response-independent attention were compared to determine whether it is necessary to begin with a dense schedule before fading to a lean schedule, or whether treatment would be as effective using a lean schedule at the outset. The subjects were 5-year-old identical quadruplets diagnosed with mental retardation and pervasive developmental disorder who displayed destructive behavior that was maintained by social attention. NCR was selected partially because it is not very labor intensive and could be implemented by a single mother simultaneously with all 4 children. Using a combination multielement and multiple baseline design, it was found that (a) a dense schedule of response-independent reinforcement (i.e., fixed-time 10 s) resulted in immediate and dramatic reductions in destructive behavior with no evidence of an extinction burst, and (b) an equivalent reduction in destructive behavior was achieved with a lean schedule of response-independent reinforcement (fixed-time 5 min) only after a systematic fading procedure was implemented. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of NCR may be dependent on the use of a dense schedule initially, and that systematic fading can increase the effectiveness of a lean schedule.     

Predicting the Outcomes of Disputes: Consequences for Disputant Reactions to Procedures and Outcomes1

Third parties in dispute settings often make predictions to disputants regarding the likely outcome of their dispute at arbitration. However, virtually no research has examined the impact of predictions on disputant satisfaction with dispute resolution procedures and outcomes. One explanation for the lack of attention to this variable may be that current theorizing regarding dispute resolution procedures is too narrowly stated to incorporate this procedural variation. Theories about predictability from nondispute settings are used to generate hypotheses regarding the consequences of such outcome prediction. In a laboratory setting, disputants prepared arguments in anticipation of an arbitration hearing. Prior to the arbitrator's decision, the experimenter read the disputants' arguments and made a prediction regarding the arbitrator's decision. Their arguments were then presented to an arbitrator who imposed a binding decision. Dependent measures include the disputants' anxiety while awaiting the arbitrator's decision, and their postdecision satisfaction with dispute resolution procedures and outcomes. Internal analyses support the hypothesis that outcome prediction has benefits for disputants' predecision coping, ratings of procedural fairness, and satisfaction judgments. Also, as hypothesized, correct predictions produced greater postdecision satisfaction with outcomes and decision-makers than did incorrect predictions.     

Word frequency and list composition effects in associative recognition and recall

The effects of list composition and word frequency on cued recall, associative recognition, and item recognition were examined in three experiments For pure-frequency lists, cued recall and associative recognition show better performance on common high-frequency (HF) words than on rare low-frequency (LF) words. Item recognition, however, shows an advantage for LF words. In mixed lists, consisting of half HF and half LF words, the HF advantage in cued recall disappeared; however, the word frequency effects in item and associative recognition were unchanged. These results are inconsistent with explanations based on differential attention or co-rehearsal of KF and LF words. However, the results are consistent with list strength results which show that recognition is insensitive to strength-based list composition, but that recall is sensitive to list composition.     

Changes in subject performance during the semester: An empirical investigation

Two experiments were conducted to probe for performance differences between early-semester subjects and late-semester subjects in an introductory psychology subject pool. In Experiment 1A, hypotheses regarding changes in performance included differential effort, changes in subjects’ attention to the task, and changes in subjects’ sensitivity. A signal detection paradigm was used, and 278 subjects were sampled over the course of the semester. No evidence of changes in subject performance was found, in spite of sufficient power to detect relevant patterns of change. The results of a replication (N = 135) were consistent with those of Experiment 1A. Experiment 2 (N = 118) employed a text comprehension task to examine possible differences in subject performance with a more cognitive task. Again, there was no evidence to support the idea that late-semester subjects were performing differently from early-semester subjects.