Suppression, accessibility of death-related thoughts, and cultural worldview defense: exploring the psychodynamics of terror management

Previous research has shown that after a mortality-salience (MS) treatment, death thought accessibility and worldview defense are initially low and then increase after a delay, suggesting that a person's initial response to conscious thoughts of mortality is to actively suppress death thoughts. If so, then high cognitive load, by disrupting suppression efforts, should lead to immediate increases in death thought accessibility and cultural worldview defense. Studies 1 and 2 supported this reasoning. Specifically, Study 1 replicated the delayed increase in death accessibility after MS among low cognitive load participants but showed a reversed pattern among participants under high cognitive load. Study 2 showed that, unlike low cognitive load participants, high cognitive load participants exhibited immediate increase in pro-American bias after MS. Study 3 demonstrated that worldview defense in response to MS reduces the delayed increase in death accessibility. Implications of these findings for understanding both terror management processes and psychological defense in general are discussed.

Suppression, accessibility of death-related thoughts, and cultural worldview defense: exploring the psychodynamics of terror management

Previous research has shown that after a mortality-salience (MS) treatment, death thought accessibility and worldview defense are initially low and then increase after a delay, suggesting that a person's initial response to conscious thoughts of mortality is to actively suppress death thoughts. If so, then high cognitive load, by disrupting suppression efforts, should lead to immediate increases in death thought accessibility and cultural worldview defense. Studies 1 and 2 supported this reasoning. Specifically, Study 1 replicated the delayed increase in death accessibility after MS among low cognitive load participants but showed a reversed pattern among participants under high cognitive load. Study 2 showed that, unlike low cognitive load participants, high cognitive load participants exhibited immediate increase in pro-American bias after MS. Study 3 demonstrated that worldview defense in response to MS reduces the delayed increase in death accessibility. Implications of these findings for understanding both terror management processes and psychological defense in general are discussed.

Terror management and cognitive-experiential self-theory: evidence that terror management occurs in the experiential system

The authors hypothesized, on the basis of terror management theory and cognitive-experiential self-theory, that participants in an experiential mode of thinking would respond to mortality salience with increased worldview defense and increased accessibility of death-related thoughts, whereas participants in a rational mode would not. Results from 3 studies provided convergent evidence that when participants were in an experiential mode, mortality salience produced the typical worldview defense effect, but when participants were in a rational mode it did not. Study 4 revealed that mortality salience also led to a delayed increase in the accessibility of death-related thoughts only when participants were in an experiential mode. These results supported the notion that worldwide defense is intensified only if individuals are in an experiential mode when considering their mortality. Discussion focuses on implications for understanding terror management processes.

Terror management theory and self-esteem: evidence that increased self-esteem reduces mortality salience effects

On the basis of the terror management theory proposition that self-esteem provides protection against concerns about mortality, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience (MS). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed this hypothesis by showing that individuals with high self-esteem (manipulated in Experiment 1; dispositional in Experiment 2) did not respond to MS with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did. The results of Experiment 3 suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self-esteem facilitates the suppression of death constructs following MS.

Effectiveness and economic impact of antidepressant medications: a review

This article reviews the existing literature on the pharmacoeconomics and effectiveness of antidepressant medications. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have not proved to be more efficacious than the older tricyclics, and their prescription costs are significantly higher, they provide superior effectiveness; ie, patients are less likely to discontinue taking them or switch antidepressants. Pharmacoeconomic studies consistently demonstrate a relationship between this superior effectiveness and reductions in overall treatment costs, often through decreased utilization of medical and hospital services. The most conservative study found a cost offset that more than negated the extra cost of drugs, although the cost savings were not statistically significant. Other studies found statistically significant lowering of utilization costs by using SSRIs rather than tricyclics. Studies comparing SSRIs with each other present conflicting findings, although fluoxetine appears to have an edge over sertraline and paroxetine with regards to effectiveness and pharmacoeconomics. More studies employing a prospective outcome design and naturalistic study setting need to be conducted with SSRIs and other new antidepressants.

Terror management theory and self-esteem: evidence that increased self-esteem reduces mortality salience effects

On the basis of the terror management theory proposition that self-esteem provides protection against concerns about mortality, it was hypothesized that self-esteem would reduce the worldview defense produced by mortality salience (MS). The results of Experiments 1 and 2 confirmed this hypothesis by showing that individuals with high self-esteem (manipulated in Experiment 1; dispositional in Experiment 2) did not respond to MS with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did. The results of Experiment 3 suggested that the effects of the first 2 experiments may have occurred because high self-esteem facilitates the suppression of death constructs following MS.

Use of positron emission tomography and evoked potentials in the detection of cortical afferents from the gastrointestinal tract

OBJECTIVE

Positron emission tomography permits precision identification of the cerebral regions involved in physiologic functions. As the cerebral localization for visceral sensation has not been identified, our aim was to examine the cerebral viscerotopic representation for rectal sensation.

METHODS

Cerebral-evoked potentials were measured in five healthy volunteers who underwent rectal balloon distension. Simultaneously, cerebral blood flow was measured using positron emission tomography with 15H2O.

RESULTS

A cerebral-evoked potential occurred with rectal balloon distension. An increase in cerebral blood flow was noted in the pre- and postcentral gyrus and the thalamus.

CONCLUSION

The techniques for measuring cerebral-evoked potentials and cortical blood flow are useful in the delineation of the cerebral regions subserving visceral sensation.

Mapping of the gene for cleidocranial dysplasia in the historical Cape Town (Arnold) kindred and evidence for locus homogeneity

Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is an autosomal dominant disorder, features of which include a patient anterior fontanelle, a bulging calvarium, hypoplasia or aplasia of the clavicles, a wide public symphysis, dental anomalies, vertebral malformation, and short stature. The Cape Town kindred which is under our genetic management was originally described more than four decades ago and now consists of more than 1000 people. Following reports of rearrangements on chromosomes 6 and 8 in people with CCD, we have carried out linkage analyses between highly information microsatellite dinucleotide repeat markers in the rearranged regions and the disorder in a branch of this South African CCD kindred, consisting of 38 subjects, 18 of whom are affected. Maximum lod scores (at theta = 0.00) of 7.14 (for marker D6S459), 4.32 (TCTE), 4.99 (D6S452), 5.97 (D6S269), and 3.95 (D6S465) confirm linkage of the disorder to the short arm of chromosome 6. Our data indicate that the CCD gene is located within a minimal region of approximately 10 cM flanked by the marker D6S451 distally and D6S466 proximally. This information is vital towards isolating and characterising the gene for CCD, and is being used to construct a physical map of 6p21.1-6p21.3. More importantly, mapping of the locus in the South African kindred of mixed ancestry, in which the "founder" of the disorder was of Chinese origin, suggests that a single locus is responsible for classic CCD.

Leaf, branch, stand and landscape scale measurements of volatile organic compound fluxes from U.S. woodlands

Natural volatile organic compound (VOC) fluxes were measured in three U.S. woodlands in summer 1993. Fluxes from individual leaves and branches were estimated with enclosure techniques and used to initialize and evaluate VOC emission model estimates. Ambient measurements were used to estimate above canopy fluxes for entire stands and landscapes. The branch enclosure experiments revealed 78 VOCs. Hexenol derivatives were the most commonly observed oxygenated compounds. The branch measurements also revealed high rates of isoprene emission from three genera of plants (Albizia, Chusqua and Mahonia) and high rates of monoterpene emission from three genera (Atriplex, Chrysthamnus and Sorbus) for which VOC emission rates have not been reported. Measurements on an additional 34 species confirmed previous results. Leaf enclosure measurements of isoprene emission rates from Quercus were substantially higher than the rates used in existing emission models. Model predictions of diurnal variations in isoprene fluxes were generally within +/- 35% of observed flux variations. Measurements with a fast response analyzer demonstrated that 60 min is a reasonable time resolution for biogenic emission models. Average daytime stand scale (hundreds of m) flux measurements ranged from about 1.3 mg C m(-2) h(-1) for a shrub oak stand to 1.5-2.5 mg C m(-2) h(-1) for a mixed forest stand. Morning, evening and nighttime fluxes were less than 0.1 mg C m(-2) h(-1). Average daytime landscape scale (tens of km) flux measurements ranged from about 3 mg C m(-2) h(-1) for a shrub oak-aspen and rangeland landscape to about 7 mg C m(-2) h(-1) for a deciduous forest landscape. Fluxes predicted by recent versions (BEIS2, BEIS2.1) of a biogenic emission model were within 10 to 50% of observed fluxes and about 300% higher than those predicted by a previous version of the model (BEIS).

A classic revisited: Loewald on the therapeutic action of psychoanalysis

Versions of the following papers were presented at the panel "Psychoanalytic Classics Revisited: Hans Loewald's "On the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis' " (Gerald I. Fogel, chair) at the meetings of the American Psychoanalytic Association, December 1993. As a tribute to Loewald's lifetime of achievement, and in belated recognition of his preeminent position in the field of psychoanalysis, the exchange appears here almost in its entirety, rather than as a conventional panel report.

Foreign body reaction to exogenous pulmonary surfactant in an infant with hydrops and cardiomyopathy

We present a hydropic infant who received exogenous surfactant and who had Noonan phenotype with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The infant had clinically diagnosed stridor for which bronchoscopy did not identify an origin. He died at 30 days of age. The bronchioles showed numerous eosinophilic plugs with a foreign body giant cell reaction. The plugs were positively immunostained with anti-aposurfactant protein B.

Evaluation of the Alcopatch, a transdermal dosimeter for monitoring alcohol consumption

BACKGROUND

The Alcopatch is an improved transdermal dosimeter for the measurement of alcohol consumption, by detection of ethanol in fluid excreted from the skin. The device is worn as a band around the ankle and provides a visual signal in the event of tampering.

METHODS

Fourteen volunteers wore duplicate Alcopatches for a period of 7 or 8 days, while keeping a written record of their beverage alcohol consumption. Ethanol concentration in the Alcopatch was measured by gas chromatography and correlated with self-reported consumption.

RESULTS

All alcohol consumption in excess of 0.25 g/kg/day resulted in measurable levels of ethanol in the Alcopatch. A positive correlation was observed between the reported consumption of ethanol (in g/kg/day) and the concentration of ethanol in the Alcopatch (square root, in mg/dl) (y = 0.91x + 0.28, r = 0.61) in 12 of 14 subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

The Alcopatch detected the consumption of beverage alcohol with high sensitivity and specificity over a period of 7 to 8 days and may be useful for the study of target populations.