Kevin Doherty

The triangle model of responsibility.

Responsibility acts as a psychological adhesive that connects an actor to an event and to relevant prescriptions that should govern conduct. People are held responsible to the extent that (a) a clear, well-defined set of prescriptions is applicable to an event (prescription-event link); (b) the actor is perceived to be bound by the prescriptions by virtue of his or her identity (prescription-identity link); and (c) the actor is connected to the event, especially by virtue of appearing to have personal control over it (identity-event link). Studies supported the model, showing that attributions of responsibility are a direct function of the combined strengths of the 3 linkages (Study 1) and that, when judging responsibility, people seek out information that is relevant to the linkages (Study 2). The model clarifies prior multiple meanings of responsibility and provides a coherent framework for understanding social judgment.

Urges to smoke during the first month of abstinence: relationship to relapse and predictors

The urges to smoke reported by 215 former smokers were measured 1 day, 7 days, 14 days and 30 days after they quit to examine: (a) the time course of smoking urges, (b) the relationship of urges to relapse, and (c) predictors of urges to smoke. Urges to smoke were strongest 1 day after quitting, and decreased at each subsequent measurement point. Urges were a powerful predictor of relapse. At each of the four assessment points, abstinent subjects who reported stronger urges to smoke were more likely to relapse by the next measurement point. Urges to smoke at a given day (e.g., day 1) were consistently the best predictors of the persistence of urges at the next assessment (e.g., day 7). Greater negative emotion (e.g., anxiety, sadness, anger, and confusion) and psychosocial stress also predicted stronger urges to smoke. Nicotine gum significantly reduced urges during week 1 post-cessation. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.

The Impact of Self-Presentations on Self-Appraisals and Behavior: The Power of Public Commitment

Strategic self presentations can have a far-reaching impact on an actors identity. Subjects who presented themselves as sociable to an interviewer, compared with those who did not present themselves, later raised their self-appraisals of their own sociability, behaved more sociably (i.e., spoke sooner, more frequently, and longer) in a different situation, were viewed as more sociable by a confederate and by judges, and recalled personal experiences that indicated they were more sociable. Strategic self presentations thus produced both a phenomenological and a behavioral carry-over that influenced the actors identity in a new situation with a new audience. Two further experiments explored the processes responsible for these effects and found that private self-reflection was not sufficient to produce the changes. Rather; public commitment to the identity portrayed in the self-presentation was a crucial antecedent of changes in self-appraisals.

Effects of nicotine gum dose by level of nicotine dependence

We used the Heaviness of Smoking Index, a subset of the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, to classify 608 cigarette smokers planning a cessation attempt as low or high in nicotine dependence. Subjects within each level of dependence were then randomly assigned to placebo, 2-mg, or 4-mg nicotine gum treatment. Subjects were also provided brief (5-10 min per visit) behavioral counseling during a 1-year period of follow-up. At 1 year post-cessation, quit rates were 11.2, 19.5, and 18.4% for low-dependence smokers receiving placebo, 2-mg, and 4-mg gum, respectively (plinear trend = 0.20). For high-dependence smokers, quit rates at 1 year were 6.1, 15.7, and 20.7% for the placebo, 2-mg, and 4-mg gum conditions, respectively (plinear trend = 0.002). The interaction of nicotine-gum dose and dependence group was not significant (p = 0.42), nor did the 2-mg and 4-mg doses differ significantly in effectiveness, though both 2-mg and 4-mg gum were significantly more effective than placebo gum. We also found a significant dose-related effect for nicotine gum to moderate post-cessation heart-rate decline. Other variables related to abstinence at 1 year post-cessation were a longer period of abstinence on a prior quit attempt, being married, higher education level, and having a non-smoking spouse or significant other. Results indicate that nicotine gum is a significant aid to smoking cessation, more than doubling the odds of successful cessation compared to the odds for placebo-gum users. The 4-mg dose provided a non-significant increase in cessation rates for high-dependence smokers. Smoking history and demographic variables also have a significant impact on the outcome of a quit-smoking attempt.

Nicotine gum dose and weight gain after smoking cessation.

The authors examined weight gain in 79 abstinent cigarette smokers during treatment with placebo or with 2 mg or 4 mg of nicotine gum. Results indicated that nicotine gum suppressed weight gain in a linear fashion with increasing nicotine dose. At 90 days postcessation, placebo gum users gained 3.7 kg, 2-mg gum users gained 2.1 kg, and 4-mg gum users gained 1.7 kg. Assessment of nicotine replacement by means of pre- and postcessation salivary continue levels revealed that smokers who replaced a greater percentage of their baseline continue levels during treatment gained less weight. Percentage of baseline cotinine replaced remained related to weight gain after the number of pieces of gum used was controlled. Implications for smokers hoping to minimize postcessation weight gain are discussed.

Self-Serving Interpretations of Motives:

Actor-subjects performed a helpful act and later received an interpersonal evaluation that attributed either more positive motives than they originally attributed to themselves, less positive motives, or the same balance of positive and negative motives. As predicted, actors initially attributed their helpfulness primarily to positive motives (e.g., to aid the other) rather than nonpositive motives (e.g., to create a good impression), whereas observer-subjects believed positive and nonpositive motives were equally likely reasons for the conduct. Subsequent reassessments of motives were not influenced b the evaluators feedback. However, actors sharply denigrated the validity of an evaluation that assigned them less positive motives whereas they regarded more positive and same evaluations as highly valid. Observers, in contrast, regarded all evaluations as valid to an intermediate degree. The results support the view that actors will attempt to construct and protect desired images of self through their interpretations of their motives.

Stage specific transforming genes in lymphoid neoplasms

Identification of activated cellular transforming genes in a variety of neoplasms has been greatly facilitated by the use of the NIH 3T3 transfection assay. A unique property of the NIH 3T3 cells is that they have the ability to undergo transformation following integration of dominantly acting genes, possibly because they have already progressed some way down the path toward overt malignancy. The cells have the ability to be transformed by a variety of transforming genes and therefore may represent a multi potential cell capable of responding to many different growth stimulatory signals.