An empirical study of the diathesis-stress theory of disease

One thousand, one hundred and twenty-one Jewish concentration camp survivors were compared with 367 Jewish controls who had not been in a concentration camp, and had not lost any family members in such a camp. Of interest was the mortality of camp and comparison groups, on the hypothesis that the stress of being in a camp would adversely affect inmates. It was found that former camp inmates were over twice as likely to die of cancer, coronary heart diesease, or other causes as the comparison subjects of similar age and sex composition, and that severity of stress was correlated with mortality in the expected direction. Diathesis, determined by means of a special interviewer-administrated questionnaire, was found to interact synergistically with stress in producing high mortality.     

Personality as a risk factor in coronary heart disease

The pioneering work of the authors of the Type A personality concept has now been shown to be seriously flawed, with only the traits of anger, aggression, and hostility remaining as risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). There is now evidence for a much stronger relationship between CHD and personality involving a rather different set of concepts and theories. The evidence for such a relationship is summarized, and a causal link suggested. It is also shown that the CHD-prone type of behaviour can be changed by behaviour therapy, decreasing considerably the risk of dying from CHD.     

Developing a federal policy on research misconduct

Since April 1996, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), in collaboration with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, has been leading the development of a government-wide Federal policy for research misconduct. The author is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Office of Science and Technology Policy and a participant in this process. This paper places the NSTC/OSTP effort in historical context, outlines the process by which the policy will be finalized, and discusses the principal issues raised during the policy development process.     

Personality and the psychology of religion

Abstract

Three major personality dimensions were identified: extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. According to the theorizing, extraversion and psychoticism were predicted to be negatively related to religiosity, whereas neuroticism was positively related. The evidence has generally failed to support the predictions with respect to extraversion and neuroticism. However, low psychoticism is consistently related to religiosity, and this relationship is stronger with respect to the personal rather than public orientation to religion. Most of the available evidence is correlational in nature, so it is very difficult to explain this relationship. Future research should be broadened to include longitudinal studies and mood manipulations in order to clarify the processes underlying the potentially important links between psychoticism and religiosity.