were also received during presentations at Durham University and the London

People approach pleasure and avoid pain. To discover the true nature of approach-avoidance motivation, psychologists need to move beyond this hedonic principle to the principles that underlie the different ways that it operates. One such principle is regulatory focus, which distinguishes self-regulation with a promotion focus (accomplishments and aspirations)from self-regulation with a prevention focus (safety and responsibilities). This principle is used to reconsider the fundamental nature of approach-avoidance, expectancy-value relations, and emotional and evaluative sensitivities. Both types of regulatory focus are applied to phenonomena that have been treated in terms of either promotion (e.g., well-being) or prevention (e.g., cognitive dissonance). Then, regulatory focus is distinguished from regulatory anticipation and regulatory reference, 2 other principles underlying the different ways that people approach pleasure and avoid pain. It seems that our entire psychical activity is bent upon procuring pleasure and avoiding pain, that it is automatically regulated by the PLEASURE-PRINCIPLE. (Freud, 1920/1952, p. 365) People are motivated to approach pleasure and avoid pain. From the ancient Greeks, through 17th- and 18thcentury British philosophers, to 20th-century psychologists, this hedonic or pleasure principle has dominated scholars ' understanding of people's motivation. It is the basic motivational assumption of theories across all areas of psychology, including theories of emotion in psychobiology (e.g., Gray, 1982), conditioning in animal learning

financial support. This document has not been subject to formal review by the RAND Corporation. The opinions and conclusions are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policy of the RAND Corporation or its research clients and sponsors.

This article reviews the relation between social support and elder health, the social-support dimensions of religion, the relation between church attendance and elder health, the place of religion in the biopsychosocial model of medicine, and medical education’s position on physician–patient communication about religion. It then examines the emergence of the topic of religion in actual visits. Data are 71 videotaped and transcribed, chronic-routine visits between 12 internal medicine physicians and their older patients. Religion was raised as a topic in 9 visits (13%). In every case, the topic was initiated by patients. The most frequent topic was church attendance (7 of 9 topics), which patients typically used as a contextualizing framework to relate and describe somatic problems. In no cases did physicians make efforts to support or facilitate patients ’ church attendance, as is advocated by medical education. Implications for medical education and the biopsychosocial model are discussed. Roter (2000) identified the need for communication scholars to confront emerging ethical issues in medicine, such as decision making in end-of-life discussions. Although not as publicly visible as cloning and stem cell research, an equally controversial issue is religion (Mills, 2002). There is no scientific evidence that functional and organic disease can be healed by the solicitation of divine power alone (Levin, 1996). However, there is evidence that religious beliefs

In the present study, the focus is the causal link between ethnic group status, class, gender and anomie. Our goal is to examine the complex relationship among multiple status membership situations and the resultant subjective feelings of anomie. The concept of anomie overlaps with that of alienation. Much of the research on alienation and anomie was done in the early 1960s (Dean, 1961; Hajda, 1961), taking on slightly different definitions. For example, Melvin Seeman's (1959) conceptualization of alienation includes powerlessness, normlessness, and isolation and self estrangement. According to MacIver (1957), normlessness implies purposelessness, but the latter also includes the notion of resignation and hopelessness which overlap with lack of efficacy and powerlessness. Durkheim's (1966) original definition of anomie, included the idea of social isolation, and normlessness, while Robert Merton's (1968) attempt limited the concept of anomie to that of normlessness. Another aspect that differentiates Durhheim's and Merton's utilization of anomie is in the former's treatment of anomie as an independent, and the latter's treatment of anomie as a dependent variable. Durkheim saw anomie as one of the major factors leading to suicide (Durkheim, 1966). Conversely, for Merton, anomie was one of the possible outcomes of the incongruence between desirable ends, and available means open to individuals. It may well be that the two eminent theorists were exploring the two sides of the same coin: certain conditions leading

agricultural research centers that receive principal funding from governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations, most of which are members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTORS AND PARTNERS IFPRI’s research, capacity strengthening, and communications work is made possible by its financial contributors and partners. IFPRI receives its principal funding from governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations, most of which are members of the Consultative Group on

Suicide terrorism is rising around the world. From the onset of the

Abstract. By means of evidence-based and declarative social simulation we grow qawms. Qawms denote solidarity networks in Afghanistan. They are dynamic social modules that contribute to the establishment of social structure. The study of qawms lends insight into the structural and processual dynamics of Afghan society. In particular we concentrate on the evolution of power structures. A computational model is presented whose ontology is based on a notion of power structures traceable in contemporary conflicts. The model’s agent behaviour, however, is informed by qualitative data derived from case studies on Afghanistan and, in terms of cognition, by the conception of endorsements. Our preliminary findings suggest – in accordance with existing case-studies – that actors are deemed if they are isolated, but perform strong if they are socially embedded and act according to the principles of neopatrimonial behaviour.

The discrepancy between an individual’s loneliness and the number of connections in a social network is well documented, yet little is known about the placement of loneliness within, or the spread of loneliness through, social networks. The authors use network linkage data from the population-based Framingham Heart Study to trace the topography of loneliness in people’s social networks and the path through which loneliness spreads through these networks. Results indicated that loneliness occurs in clusters, extends up to 3 degrees of separation, is disproportionately represented at the periphery of social networks, and spreads through a contagious process. The spread of loneliness was found to be stronger than the spread of perceived social connections, stronger for friends than family members, and stronger for women than for men. The results advance understanding of the broad social forces that drive loneliness and suggest that efforts to reduce loneliness in society may benefit by aggressively targeting the people in the periphery to help repair their social networks and to create a protective barrier against loneliness that can keep the whole network from unraveling.

This document describes a five-year vision for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) work to prevent fatal and nonfatal suicidal behavior. The strategic direction we propose is to prevent suicidal behavior by building and strengthening connectedness or social bonds within and among persons, families, and communities. Background In the United States and around the world, self-directed violence is a serious public health problem. Such violence includes acts of suicidal behavior (fatal and nonfatal attempts), suicidal ideation (thinking about, considering, or planning for suicide), and nonsuicidal, intentional self-harm (behaviors with the intention not to kill oneself, as in selfmutilation). 1, 2, 3 Fatal and nonfatal suicidal behavior has a most pronounced morbidity and mortality and is thus the focus of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention’s (DVP) strategic direction. In 2005, 32,637 suicides occurred—the 11 th leading cause of death. 4 Because of suicide’s greater effect on adolescents and young adults relative to other causes of death, suicide ranked as the fifth leading cause of years of potential life lost before age 65. 5 In fact, in 2005, suicide was the third leading cause of death for 10- to 24-year-olds,