Science Briefs

The Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicidal Behavior: Current Empirical Status

by Thomas Joiner

Thomas Joiner grew up in Georgia, went to college at Princeton, and received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. He is Distinguished Research Professor and The Bright-Burton Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida State University. Dr. Joiner’s work is on the psychology, neurobiology, and treatment of suicidal behavior and related conditions. Author of over 385 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Joiner was recently awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Shneidman Award for excellence in suicide research from the American Association of Suicidology, and the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions from the American Psychological Association, as well as research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and various foundations. Dr. Joiner is editor of the American Psychological Association’s Clinician’s Research Digest, editor of the Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, and he has authored or edited fifteen books, including Why People Die By Suicide, published in 2005 by Harvard University Press. He runs a part-time clinical and consulting practice specializing in suicidal behavior, including legal consultation on suits involving death by suicide. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife and two sons.

The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (Joiner, 2005) proposes that an individual will not die by suicide unless s/he has both the desire to die by suicide and the ability to do so.  What is the desire for suicide, and what are its constituent parts?  What is the ability to die by suicide and in whom and how does it develop? 

In answer to the first question of who desires suicide, the theory asserts that when people hold two specific psychological states in their minds simultaneously, and when they do so for long enough, they develop the desire for death.  The two psychological states are perceived burdensomeness and a sense of low belongingness or social alienation.  In answer to the second question regarding capability for suicide, self-preservation is a powerful enough instinct that few can overcome it by force of will.  The few who can have developed a fearlessness of pain, injury, and death, which, according to the theory, they acquire through a process of repeatedly experiencing painful and otherwise provocative events.  These experiences often include previous self-injury, but can also include other experiences, such as repeated accidental injuries; numerous physical fights; and occupations like physician and front-line soldier in which exposure to pain and injury, either directly or vicariously, is common.

What is the current empirical base bearing on this conceptualization?  Some of it is indirect, though a growing body of direct empirical findings is accruing.  In the following sections, evidence and concepts regarding each of the theory’s three main components are reviewed.

Perceived Burdensomeness

Perceived burdensomeness is the view that one’s existence burdens family, friends, and/or society.  This view produces the idea that “my death will be worth more than my life to family, friends, society, etc.” – a view, it is important to emphasize, that represents a potentially fatal misperception.  Past research, though not designed to test the interpersonal-psychological theory, nonetheless has documented an association between higher levels of perceived burdensomeness and suicidal ideation. DeCatanzaro (1995), for instance, found that perceived burdensomeness toward family was correlated with suicidal ideation among community participants and high-suicide-risk groups.  Direct tests of the theory have been supportive as well.  In two studies of suicide notes, Joiner et al. (2002) showed that raters detected more expressions of burdensomeness in: 1) the notes of people who had died by suicide compared to the notes of those who intended to die but survived; and 2) the notes of those who died by violent means compared to the notes of those who died by less violent means.  In a study of psychotherapy outpatients, Van Orden, Lynam, Hollar, and Joiner (2006) showed that a measure of perceived burdensomeness was a robust predictor of suicide attempt status and of current suicidal ideation, even controlling for powerful suicide-related covariates like hopelessness.

Low Belonging/Social Alienation

A low sense of belongingness is the experience that one is alienated from others, not an integral part of a family, circle of friends, or other valued group.  As with the research base on perceived burdensomeness, there is abundant evidence that this factor is implicated in suicidal behavior. However, relatively little of this evidence derives from direct tests of the interpersonal-psychological theory.  Indeed, a persuasive case can be made that, of all the risk factors for suicidal behavior, ranging from the molecular to the cultural levels, the strongest and most uniform support has emerged for indices related to social isolation (e.g., Boardman, Grimbaldeston, Handley, Jones, & Willmott, 1999).  The connection between belonging (or its absence) and suicidality has been established for a number of diverse populations, including young adolescents, college students, elderly individuals, and psychiatric inpatients.  Furthermore, suicide rates go down during times of celebration (when people pull together to celebrate; Joiner, Hollar, & Van Orden, 2006) and during times of hardship or tragedy (when people pull together to commiserate).  For instance, there was a low rate of death by suicide in the U.S. on September 11, 2001, as there was the week after President Kennedy’s assassination (Biller, 1977). 

With regard to studies framed as direct tests of this aspect of the interpersonal-psychological theory, Conner, Britton, Sworts, and Joiner (2007) evaluated 131 methadone maintenance patients, and demonstrated that low feelings of belongingness predicted lifetime history of suicide attempts.  As expected, in a fairly stringent test of specificity, this association was specific to suicidal behavior; belongingness was unrelated to unintentional overdoses.  This specific association held even after a rigorous accounting for demographic characteristics, correlates of suicidal behavior, and other interpersonal variables. 

In another study, Van Orden, Witt, Bender, and Joiner (2008) showed that, as predicted, college students’ suicidal ideation peaked in the summer semester (there is a late spring-early summer peak in suicidality, contrary to what most assume), and furthermore, found that low belonging in the summer (when the campus is less active) accounted, in part, for the association between semester and suicidality.

Acquired Ability to Enact Lethal Self-Injury

While feelings of burdensomeness and low belongingness may instill a desire for suicide, they are not sufficient to ensure that desire will lead to a suicide attempt.  Indeed, in order for this to occur, the theory suggests a third element must be present: the acquired ability for lethal self-injury.  This aspect of the theory suggests that suicide entails a fight with self-preservation motives.  According to the theory, having fought this battle repeatedly and in different domains instills the capacity to stare down the self-preservation instinct—should an individual develop the desire to.

The basis for this proposition rests primarily on the principles of opponent-process theory, which suggests that with repeated exposure to an affective stimulus, the reaction to that stimulus shifts over time such that the stimulus loses its ability to elicit the original response and, instead, the opposite response is strengthened (Solomon, 1980).  In light of this, it is hypothesized that the capability for suicide is acquired largely through repeated exposure to painful or fearsome experiences.  This results in habituation and, in turn, a higher tolerance for pain and a sense of fearlessness in the face of death.  Acquired capability is viewed as a continuous construct, accumulating over time with repeated exposure to salient experiences and influenced by the nature of those experiences such that more painful and provocative experiences will confer greater capacity for suicide.

A clear implication of this is that past suicidal behavior will habituate individuals to the pain and fear of self-injury, making future suicidality, on average, more likely.  Indeed, a history of suicide attempts has been found to be a strong predictor of future suicidal behavior including death by suicide (Joiner et al., 2005; Brown, Beck, Steer, & Grisham, 2000).  Moreover, Joiner and colleagues (2005) have found that individuals with past suicide attempts experienced more serious forms of future suicidality, as compared to others who did not have a history of suicidality and, crucially, this association was not accounted for by other variables (e.g., mood disorder status, personality disorder status, family history variables).  Relatedly, it has also been found that individuals with a history of suicide attempts evidence higher pain tolerance in general (Orbach, Mikulincer, King, Cohen, & Stein 1997).  Also, in a direct test of acquired capability for suicide, Van Orden, Witte, Gordon, Bender, and Joiner (2008) used a scale designed to tap the construct, and showed that number of past suicide attempts significantly predicted levels of acquired capability in a sample of clinical outpatients.  The highest levels of acquired capability were reported by individuals with multiple past attempts, as the theory would predict.

Yet, acquiring the capacity for suicide is not limited to prior suicidal behavior—it can also be acquired through repeated experience with other painful and fear-inducing behaviors (e.g., non-suicidal self-injury, self-starvation, physical abuse, etc.).  For instance, in the case of non-suicidal self-injury, prior research has suggested that the likelihood of suicide attempts is greater in individuals who have a longer history of self-injury, use a greater number of methods, and report absence of physical pain during self-injury–all characteristics suggestive of habituation and tolerance (Nock, Joiner, Gordon, Richardson, & Prinstein, 2006).  

Lastly, aside from direct exposure, the theory also posits that even exposure to others’ pain and injury may produce the capacity for suicide.  Physicians fit this hypothesis, evidencing high suicide rates despite many protective factors (Hawton, Clements, Sakarovitch, Simkin, & Deeks, 2001). 

The Interactive Nature of the Theory

Thus far each component of the theory has been described in isolation, providing evidence for the independent effects of perceived burdensomeness, failed belongingness, and acquired capability on levels of suicidality.  We have not yet explored the interactive nature of the theory, which posits a three-way interaction between these components.  Particularly, the theory suggests that the joint occurrence of perceived burdensomeness and failed belongingness is sufficient to produce the desire to die, and that this desire translates into lethal or near-lethal behavior only in the presence of the acquired capacity for lethality.

To date, four studies bear on the interactive aspects of the model, two described in Van Orden et al. (2008), and two described in Joiner et al. (in press).  In a study of undergraduates, Van Orden et al. (2008) showed that the statistical interaction between (high) burdensomeness and (low) belonging predicted current suicidal ideation; this occurred beyond important covariates, like depressive symptoms.  A second study on psychotherapy outpatients also provided evidence for a statistical interaction between scores on an acquired capability measure and an index of perceived burdensomeness, such that acquired capability in the presence of high levels of perceived burdensomeness predicted clinician ratings of suicide risk—again, above and beyond the contribution of other risk factors (i.e., depression scores, gender, and age).  In the first of the Joiner et al. studies, in a large, diverse, and representative community sample of young people, burdensomeness and low belonging interacted to predict suicidal ideation.  In the second study, acquired capacity, perceived burdensomeness, and low belonging interacted as hypothesized to predict suicide attempt status in a clinical sample of young adults.

The interpersonal-psychological theory is promising, with a growing empirical base to support it.  The theory suggests that clinicians be cognizant of their patients’ levels of belongingness, burdensomeness, and acquired capability (especially previous suicide attempts), as this knowledge may aid clinicians in the task of suicide risk assessment and of targeting therapeutics.

References

Biller, O.A.  (1977). Suicide related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  Suicide and Life Threatening Behavior, 7, 40-44. 

Brown, G., Beck, A. T., Steer, R., & Grisham, J. (2000). Risk factors for suicide in psychiatric outpatients: A 20-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 371–377.

Boardman, A. P., Grimbaldeston, A. H., Handley, C., Jones, P. W., & Willmott, S. (1999). The North Staffordshire suicide study: a case-control study of suicide in one health district. Psychological Medicine, 29, 27-33.

Conner, K., Britton, P., Sworts, L., & Joiner, T. (2007). Suicide attempts among individuals with opiate dependence: The critical role of felt belonging.  Addictive Behaviors, 32, 1395-1404.

DeCatanzaro, D. (1995). Reproductive status, family interactions, and suicidal ideation: Surveys of the general public and high-risk groups. Ethology & Sociobiology, 16, 385-394.

Hawton, K., Clements, A., Sakarovitch, C., Simkin, S., & Deeks, J.J.  (2001).  Suicide in doctors: A study of risk according to gender, seniority, and specialty in medical practitioners in England and Wales, 1979-1995.  Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 55, 296-300. 

Joiner, T.E. (2005). Why people die by suicide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Joiner, T.E., Conwell, Y., Fitzpatrick, K.K., Witte, T.K., Schmidt, N.B., Berlim, M.T., et al.  (2005).  Four studies on how past and current suicidality relate even when “everything but the kitchen sink” is covaried.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 291-303. 

Joiner, Jr., T. E., Hollar, D., & Van Orden, K. A. (2006). On Buckeyes, Gators, Super Bowl Sunday, and the Miracle on Ice: “Pulling Together” is associated with lower suicide rates. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 180-196.

Joiner, T., Pettit, J. W., Walker, R. L., Voelz, Z. R., Cruz, J., Rudd, M. D., et al. (2002). Perceived burdensomeness and suicidality: Two studies on the suicide notes of those attempting and those completing suicide. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 21, 531-545.

Joiner, T., Van Orden, K., Witte, T., Selby, E., Ribeiro, J., Lewis, R., & Rudd, M.D. (in press).  Main predictions of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior: Empirical tests in two samples of young adults.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

Nock, M., Joiner, T., Gordon, K., Lloyd-Richardson, E., & Prinstein, M. (2006). Non-suicidal self-injury: Diagnostic correlates and relation to suicide attempts. Psychiatry Research, 144, 65-72.

Orbach, I., Mikulincer, M., King, R., Cohen, D., & Stein, D. (1997). Thresholds and tolerance of physical pain in suicidal and nonsuicidal adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 646-652.

Rudd, M.D., Joiner, T.E., & Rajab, M.H.  (1996).  Relationships among suicide ideators, attemptors, and multiple attemptors in a young-adult sample.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 541-550. 

Solomon, R. L. (1980). The opponent-process theory of acquired motivation: The costs of pleasure and benefits of pain. American Psychologist, 35, 691–712.

Van Orden, K. A., Lynam, M. E., Hollar, D., & Joiner, T. E., Jr. (2006). Perceived Burdensomeness as an Indicator of Suicidal Symptoms. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 30, 457-467.

Van Orden, K.A., Witte, T.K., Gordon, K.H., Bender, T.W., & Joiner, T.E.  (2008). Suicidal desire and the capability for suicide: Tests of the interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior among adults.  Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 72-83. 

Van Orden, K., Witte, T., James, L., Castro, Y., Gordon, K., Braithwaite, S.,  et al. (2008).  Suicidal ideation in college students varies across semesters: The mediating role of belongingness.  Suicide & Life-Threatening Behavior, 38, 427-435.

An Interesting Career in Psychology:
Environmental Psychologist at a National Laboratory

JENNIFER A. VEITCH

PhD (1992) - Environmental Psychology
University of Victoria

Senior Research Officer
National Research Council of Canada - Institute for Research in Construction
Ottawa, Ontario

Does well-being depend partly on how much light exposure one receives each day? Can we influence organizational efficiency by providing employees with meaningful control over their workplace environments? Do measures to save energy in buildings require that we "freeze in the dark"? These are examples of research questions I try to answer with my colleagues from other scientific disciplines, as part of the National Research Council Institute for Research in Construction (NRC-IRC) Indoor Environment research program. I love my job because it lets me do almost exactly the kind of research that first attracted me to psychology.

When I was in high school, my goal was to study medicine. While taking pre-med courses as an undergraduate at the University of Manitoba, I took introductory psychology as an elective, thinking it would be useful later. That first term my instructor was a wonderful professor, Stuart Kaye. He included a unit on environmental psychology, which is not normally in the curriculum at that level. Unlike many environmental psychologists, who began in social psychology, Dr. Kaye’s background was in experimental psychology. His research focus was on environmental design and its effects on behaviour, with an emphasis on understanding the physical conditions as stimuli and the physiological as well as the perceptual responses to those stimuli. From the beginning, I was hooked; the idea of understanding how places might affect us fascinated me. This provided an empirical framework for understanding environment-behaviour concepts I had absorbed informally at home from my father, who was a university professor of interior design. Only much later did I learn that my father had been an “early adopter” of design awareness and environmental design approaches developed by psychologist Robert Sommer and others.

In the following years, I took Dr. Kaye’s environmental psychology course, volunteered in his lab, and began my own research under his supervision. My fourth-year honours (undergraduate) thesis was on the effects of varying light levels (illuminance) on interpersonal behaviour. Lighting research remains my principal focus today, more than 20 years later.

Environmental psychology has been characterised as a perspective on all psychological phenomena. In my experience, investigating how the physical environment affects people and how people affect the physical environment both require a broad knowledge base. On a daily basis I apply knowledge from sensory and perceptual psychology, social psychology, developmental psychology, health psychology, and industrial-organizational psychology, together with an understanding of physics, chemistry, physiology, engineering, and architecture. I credit a diverse experience in graduate school and many wonderful collaborators and colleagues with helping to build that base.

I took an unusual route through graduate school, attending three universities in five years. Moving around was not entirely planned, but I did seek opportunities to take new points of view. During my Master's degree work at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, I was exposed to ergonomics and industrial-organizational psychology concepts. In order to focus more on environmental psychology from a social psychological perspective, I moved to the Social Ecology program at the University of California at Irvine for my PhD. After a year of course work and participation in lab work with Daniel Stokols, financial and personal considerations led me to transfer to the University of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia. There, I completed my PhD in environmental psychology with Robert Gifford. It’s not necessary to move quite so often to get the benefits I did, but there’s no substitute for a broad exposure to different emphases and traditions as a basis for a career in interdisciplinary research.

Like most new PhDs, I intended to follow a career in academia; and like many, I thought that having some postdoctoral research experience would be a wiser path than to leap directly onto the tenure track. I had become aware that there existed a lighting research group at NRC-IRC, so I sent off an inquiry concerning postdoctoral positions. That group had until then focused primarily on sensory psychophysics and on energy efficiency. It seemed like a good way to broaden my experience beyond the applied social psychology end of environmental psychology, so when I was offered a two-year research position, I accepted it. Seventeen years later — much to my surprise — I’m still there. My peregrinations across the continent are now shorter, as I travel to give presentations, attend conferences, and conduct field research.

NRC-IRC is the Canadian government’s principal research and development laboratory for the Canadian construction industry. We work to improve the safety, durability, sustainability, and comfort of Canadian workplaces, homes, and public infrastructure. My job involves conducting original research much like my academic counterparts, but approximately one-quarter of my time goes to various knowledge transfer activities. These include articles for trade magazines, seminars and presentations to professional groups, and contributions to professional and industry committees and standards-writing bodies (including, in my case, psychological associations such as APA Division 34 and lighting-related bodies such as the International Commission on Illumination). My research includes a little sensory psychophysics, but more often looks at how aspects of work environments (for instance, office lighting quality) influence affect, cognition, and well-being; and in turn, how individual behaviours influence building energy consumption (for example, the consequences of individual control over lighting on lighting energy use). I work with excellent colleagues whose professional backgrounds are in engineering, physics, architecture, and acoustics, and together we study phenomena that none of us could examine independently.

This isn’t the job I imagined I would have; but it is the career I set out to pursue. My advice to budding psychological scientists: Find what you love to do, and be flexible in finding a way to keep doing it.

From the APA Science Student Council

The Science Student Council is a group of nine graduate students who spend a couple of weekends a year with the Science staff, advising on programs and activities that would benefit graduate students in psychological science. In this column, the students will present useful information that other graduate students need to know! Visit the Science Student Council page (www.apa.org/science/apasscweb.html) to learn more about the activities of the SSC.

Getting a Job in a Difficult Economy

by Stanley O. King II

Does the economy have you down? Are your retirement savings dwindling? Have you cut back on your frequency of fine dining? Of course not — you’re a graduate student! Stipends have always been low and ramen noodle prices are stable. However, for those of you who are off to face the real world, laying your book bags to rest, and daring to wear grown-up clothes, you may have a slight hill to climb in securing a job after graduation. Our nation is struggling through an economic downturn, but luckily for you, managing frustration and dealing with uncertainty is part of the process in gaining a graduate education. Therefore, you have experience in being persistent, and depending on how you present it, this is a qualification that will at least get you an interview. Just hold your head high, practice the tips below, and regardless of the economy you can have the lavish lifestyle that your graduate student friends will envy and those with baccalaureate degrees have long grown accustomed to.

Start early!
If you hope, plan or just have a recurring dream that you may graduate in the next year, begin your job search now and be flexible with your timeline.  It cannot hurt.

Stay positive and open-minded
Resist the urge to partake in the doom and gloom surrounding the economy. When you decided to earn a graduate degree you made an investment in yourself. Use this as an opportunity to showcase your well-developed skill set. Additionally, think creatively about what makes you a unique applicant and what it is that you want to do following graduation. For example, if you have quantitative expertise, maybe the statistics department for a professional sports team or a government agency will find this appealing. Also, if you are interested in a research career, it may be a good idea to spend a couple years doing a post-doc to ride out the economic crisis. If a teaching career is what you really want, consider taking a visiting professor or adjunct professor position. These positions are often temporary, but they will give you invaluable teaching experience and may give you the edge on the job market when more stable, permanent jobs open up in the future.

Work your network and communicate with others
The best way to get the inside track on a job is by a referral from someone who  works at the company or university. Inform everyone you know that you are on the job market, use your undergraduate and graduate university alumni base, and acquaint yourself with those individuals who work in your university’s career services office.

Be prepared for good fortune
Make sure your CV/resume is updated and that it reflects what contribution you can make immediately if hired. You never know whom you may meet when networking in the coffee shop.

Develop a multi-pronged strategy for employment
Exhaust all possibilities and options. Go to career fairs, attend academic and industry-specific conferences, search online job sites, join listservs, apply directly to specific companies, email department chairs, read the journal advertisements, and post your resume online. Use professional social networking sites, such as linkedin, to market yourself. Do all that is necessary to increase the probability that you will get hired.

Remember that countless former graduate students have jobs in a variety of industries and settings; therefore, your talents and skills are valued. For those looking for a research, post-doctoral, or assistant professor position, your prospects may not be much different from what they were before the economic downturn. However, be proactive and try these tips. Ultimately, the difficulty of obtaining a job when the economy is down is similar to obstacles faced while in graduate school.  Most challenges encountered in life are usually only temporary and persistence will conquer all.

Stanley O. King II, a member of the APASSC, is a graduate student at the University of Virginia.  His research interests are focused on how arousal modulates learning and memory.

Science Programs are in abundance at the 2009 APA Convention

You won’t want to miss the 2009 APA Convention in beautiful Toronto, August 6–9.  The meeting will be packed with presentations from some of the discipline’s most outstanding speakers. 

Francis S. Collins

The Opening Session on Thursday, August 6, will feature the Convention Keynote address by Francis S. Collins, MD.  Collins, who led the effort to map the human genome, is a former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, and is a world-renowned physician, geneticist, and author.  Also at the Opening Session, APA President James Bray will present Awards for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to Alan E. Kazdin and Patrick H. DeLeon.

Among the highlights of the 2009 meeting are the “Convention within the Convention” (featuring cross-divisional programming on topics of broad interest), plenary sessions, and of course, programming sponsored by the Board of Scientific Affairs.

Laura Carstensen

Plenary presentations of particular interest to the science community include talks by Laura Carstensen, “A long bright future: Aging in the 21st century;” Dante Cicchetti, “Developmental psychopathology in action;” Ed Diener and Robert Biswas-Diener, “Happiness in turbulent times;” Michelle Fine, “Oil for the lamp of democracy: Participatory action research with youth during politically contentious times;” Ahmad Hariri, “Using imaging, pharmacology and genetics to better understand mechanisms of individual differences in behavior;” Andrew Meltzoff, “Early development of social cognition: A new look;” Jennifer Richeson, “Negotiating interracial interactions: Costs, consequences, and possibilities;” and Martin E. P. Seligman, “Positive education.”

Jennifer Richeson

The “Convention within the Convention” includes 77 sessions within ten programming tracks.  Among the outstanding speakers scheduled are Leona S. Aiken and Stephen G. West, “Statistical mediation and moderation analysis: How and for whom do interventions work?” Mahzarin Banaji, “Knowing our minds;” Linda M. Bartoshuk, “Do you taste what I taste: Some lessons about measurement that impact health;” Aaron T. Beck, “Cognitive therapy: A conversation with Aaron T. Beck and Frank Farley;”  Michael Davis, “Neural circuits involved in fear and stress with implications for PTSD;” Adele Diamond, “Strategies and programs that help to improve executive functions in young children;” John F. Dovidio, Crossing the racial divide: Having the difficult discussion about bias and inequality;” Janet S. Hyde, “Men are from Earth, women are from Earth: The gender similarities hypothesis;” Loretta S. Jemmott and John B. Jemmott, “Designing family-based interventions: An effort to empower mothers to reduce their son’s sexual risks;” Terence M. Keane, “Taxonometric and/or clinical implications of neuroscience research;” David A. Kenny, “Introduction to the actor-partner interdependence model for the study of dyads;” Scott E. Maxwell, “Advances in longitudinal mediation analysis;” John Norcross, “Psychotherapy relationships that work: Evidence-based responsiveness;” Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, “Families globally share healthy pathways;” Peter Salovey, “Academic leadership in challenging times;” Mark Snyder, “Working for the common good: Individual and groups address the challenges facing the world;” Jose Szapocznik, “The science and practice of the prevention of risk taking behaviors in Hispanic families,” and a symposium on “Modern technology failures and cognitive engineering successes.”  Visit the “Convention within the Convention” web page for a complete listing of the sessions included.

One of the featured symposia in the Presidential programming track focuses on The future of psychological science as a STEM discipline.

Talks by Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award recipients include: Nancy Adler, “Eliminating health disparities: What’s psychology got to do with it?” Susan E. Carey, “The origin of concepts;”Alice Eagly, “The his and hers of prosocial behavior;”and Steven F. Maier, “Vulnerability and resilience: Stressor controllability and the medial prefrontal cortex.”

The Neal Miller Lecture will be given by Michael Meaney on “The epigenome: Where nature meets nurture.” 

Howard Eichenbaum

The 2009 Master Lectures include Chris Dunkel-Schetter, “Stress before birth: Immediate and long-term effects;” Howard Eichenbaum, “The neurobiology of recollection;” Eduardo Salas, “Evolution and maturation of the science of team performance: Decades of progress and emerging perspectives;” and Dean Keith Simonton, “Creative scientists, artists, and psychologists: Modeling disposition, development, and achievement.”

The APA Science Student Council is organizing sessions of special interest to graduate students, including: “Achieving balance: Integrating the demands of professional life and personal life,” “Um…Hi… A professional social networking guide for graduate students,” “Psychological science graduate superstars – datablitz,” and “Grants and fellowships for graduate students: Funding and advocacy.”

The APA Committee on Animal Research and Ethics (CARE) is sponsoring a second invited address by Michael Meaney, “How social experiences (re)program the brain.”  And the APA Committee on Psychological Tests and Assessment is organizing a symposium on “Current issues affecting the disclosure of test data and materials.”

In collaboration with CARE and the APA Ethics Committee, the Board of Scientific Affairs is sponsoring a session on ”Research ethics 101.”

The 2009 Scientist’s Guide to the APA Convention, a listing of all Science Directorate programs, plenary sessions, and selected programs of APA Divisions, is available online.  Paper copies will be distributed at the Science Directorate’s booth in the Exhibit Hall in Toronto. 

Please visit the APA Convention page for registration, housing, and other information.

Committee on Human Research - Call for Nominations

The Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA) is seeking nominations for a newly established APA continuing committee: Committee on Human Research (CHR).

The mission of this seven-member Committee is to facilitate research with human participants that complies with prevailing ethical principles and governmental regulations, and to examine issues regarding the formulation and implementation of such principles and regulations. Its purview encompasses such topics as confidentiality, decisional capacity, diversity of research populations, research dissemination, cross-disciplinary standards, international collaborations, and resource and data sharing. The new committee will also engage in educational and advocacy efforts in the realm of human research protections. One member of CHR will be selected from a slate developed jointly with the APA Ethics Committee and will serve as an active liaison to the Ethics Committee.

The membership of CHR will include psychological expertise across a wide range of research topics, populations, settings, and methodologies. The primary areas represented on the Committee are:

1. Applied research (including industrial-organizational, human factors, school, educational, and environmental research)

2. Cognitive research (including basic and translational research)

3. Community-based research (including cultural and ethnographic research)

4. Developmental/lifespan research (including infant, child, and aging research)

5. Intervention research (including behavioral, clinical, and organizational approaches)

6. Neuroscience (basic and translational, including psychopharmacology)

7. Social/personality and emotion research (including basic and translational research)

Furthermore, a strong effort will be made to ensure that at least one member of CHR has expertise in each of the following areas:

• specific populations (such as ethnic, racial, linguistic, and sexual minorities; children; older adults; prisoners; individuals with psychiatric disorders)
• health-related research
• ethical issues in genetics research
• international research issues

To ensure familiarity with current issues in human research protections, all members of CHR should be currently or recently engaged in research with human participants and have served on an institutional review board (IRB) or similar body.

Self-nominations are welcome. Nomination materials should include the following:

(a) a letter from the nominee indicating their willingness to serve and indicating which one (or more) of the seven primary areas listed above that the nominee could represent;

(b) a brief statement by the nominee describing their expertise, experience, and interests in contemporary human research protection issues;

(c) a current curriculum vitae.

Candidates selected by BSA will serve on the Committee for three years, and will be required to attend two Committee meetings per year in Washington, DC, with expenses reimbursed by APA, and to participate in conference calls.

Nomination materials should be received by no later than August 31, 2009. Please submit nominations via e-mail to Sangeeta Panicker.

Congratulations to the 2009 Student Travel Award Winners

The Science Directorate sponsors an annual competition for graduate student travel awards, which help psychology graduate students to travel to the annual APA Convention to present their research. This year, more than 80 students will receive $300 each to support their travel to the APA Convention in Toronto. Congratulations to all of our Student Travel Award winners!

Jill Adelson, University of Connecticut
Christopher Allen, University of South Carolina
Linda Baggett, University of Memphis
Sabrica Barnett, CUNY- Graduate School and University Center
Tessa Basford, George Washington University
Meghan Bean, Northwestern University
Rinad Beidas, Temple University
Amanda Brouwer, University of Wisconsin,  Milwaukee
Stephanie Budge, University of Wisconsin,  Madison
Monali Chowdhury, Ohio State University
Ka Yue (Helena) Chui, Colorado State University
Elizabeth Cotter, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Matthew Davis, Texas A&M University, Health Science Center
Orin Davis, Claremont Graduate University
Amy DeJaeger, University of Manitoba
Kelly Dunn, University of Vermont
Michelle Dvorak, University of South Dakota
Katie Edwards, Ohio University
Dawn Eichen, Temple University
Anne Fairlie, University of Rhode Island
Anne Fernandez, University of Rhode Island
Lauren Gibbs, The College of William and Mary
Kelly Graling, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Sarah Gray, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Shulamite Green, University of California, Los Angeles
Amy Gunty, University of Minnesota
Rupanwita Gupta, Claremont Graduate University
Hsien-Yuan Hsu, Texas A&M University
Salman Jaffer, George Washington University
Sabra Katz-Wise, University of Wisconsin,  Madison
Michael Kofler, University of Central Florida
Natalie Koziol, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
Sadie Larsen, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Kelly Liao, Iowa State University
Benjamin Liberman, Teachers College, Columbia University
Siao-Charn Ling, University of California, Berkeley
Brian Littleton, University of Michigan, Dearborn
Meghan Lowery, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
Paula Luginbuhl, University of Oregon
Gloria Luong, University of California, Irvine
Matthew Maxwell-Smith, University of Western Ontario
Ryon McDermott, University of Houston
Ethan Mereish, Boston College
Rika Meyer, University of Michigan
Stephanie Miller, Michigan State University
Kristine Molina, University of Michigan
Louis Mora, St. John's University
Cynthia Najdowski, University of Illinois, Chicago
KimHoang Nguyen, University of Texas, Austin
Austin Nichols, University of Florida
Melanie Noel, Dalhousie University
Kristine Olson, Washington State University, Vancouver
Nishant Patel, Widener University
Ashley Paterson, University of Windsor
Ferne Pinard, University of Southern Mississippi
David Raffle, Fielding Graduate University
Jessica Rohlfing, Arizona State University
Ariz Rojas-Cifredo, University of South Florida
Laura Schaffner, George Washington University
Allison Scott, University of California, Berkeley
Matthew Segall, University of Georgia
Alisha Serras, Eastern Michigan University
Leslie Shaw, University of Nebraska,  Lincoln
Tae Shin, Michigan State University
Wakako Sogo, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Joanna Sokolowska, Fordham University
Valerie Sotardi, University of Arizona
Joni Splett, University of Missouri
Joshua Swift, Oklahoma State University
Chia-Lin Tsai, University of Missouri
Katherine Tsai, University of California, San Diego/ San Diego State University
Jennifer Twyford, University of California, Santa Barbara
Bill Utendale, Concordia University
Ian Villalta, Arizona State University
Jennifer Walsh, University of Michigan
Cixin Wang, University of Nebraska,  Lincoln
Natalie Wieland, University of California, Los Angeles
Rachel Wiley, University of Central Florida
Erin Winterrowd, Colorado State University
Yelena Wu, University of Kansas
Samantha Yard, University of Washington

NIH Searches for New OBSSR Director

The National Institutes of Health has reopened the search for a new Director of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research.  The OBSSR Director, who works closely with the Director of NIH and other NIH leadership, “serves as the NIH focal point for establishing agency-wide policies and goals in behavioral and social sciences research.”  OBSSR currently has a staff of 14 full time positions and a budget of over $27 million, which it leverages through collaborations with the various NIH institutes and centers. 

Previous OBSSR Directors include psychologist Norman Anderson (1995-2000), who is now APA’s Chief Executive Officer; physician and economist Raynard Kington (2000-2003), who currently serves as the Acting Director of NIH; and psychologist David Abrams (2005-2008), now with the American Legacy Foundation.  Dr. Abrams discussed his experiences at OBSSR in a June 2008 interview with APA Government Relations staff.

See the vacancy announcement for complete information about the position.  The deadline for applications is August 31, 2009.

Research Funding Opportunities from Federal Agencies

Recent funding announcements from federal agencies for interdisciplinary research and training that are appropriate for psychological scientists

National Science Foundation

Cognitive Neuroscience (NSF 09-563)

Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers Program  (I/UCRC)
(NSF 09-565)

International Research Network Connections  (IRNC) (NSF 09-564)

Population and Community Ecology (NSF 09-1128)

Department of Health and Human Services

National Institutes of Health

Recovery Act Limited Competition: Biomedical Research, Development, and Growth to Spur the Acceleration of New Technologies (BRDG-SPAN) Pilot Program (RC3)
(RFA-OD-09-008)
(multiple institutes)

Recovery Act Limited Competition: Small Business Catalyst Awards for Accelerating Innovative Research (R43)  (RFA-OD-09-009)
(multiple institutes)

NIH Clinical Trial Planning Grant Program (R34) (PA-09-186)
(NEI, NIA, NIAAA, NIAMS, NICHD, NIDA, ODS)

Collaborative Minority Alcohol Research Center Development (U54)
(RFA-AA-10-001)
(NIAAA)

Mechanisms, Measurement, and Management of Pain in Aging: from Molecular to Clinical (R01) (PA-09-193)
(NIA, NCCAM)

Mechanisms, Measurement, and Management of Pain in Aging: from Molecular to Clinical (R21) (PA-09-194)
(NIA)

Mechanisms, Measurement, and Management of Pain in Aging: from Molecular to Clinical (R03)  (PA-09-195)
(NIA)

Bioenergetics, Fatigability, and Activity Limitations in Aging (R01)
(PA-09-190)
(NIA, NHLBI, NINR, ODS, ORWH)

Bioenergetics, Fatigability, and Activity Limitations in Aging (R21)
(PA-09-191)
(NIA, NHLBI, NINR, ODS, ORWH)

Bioenergetics, Fatigability, and Activity Limitations in Aging (R03)
(PA-09-192)
(NIA, ODS)

Feasibility Studies for Collaborative Interaction for Minority Institution/Cancer Center Partnership (P20) (PAR-09-201)
(NCI)

Integrating Translational Neuroscience and Adolescent Drug Abuse Treatment (R21)
(RFA-DA-10-003)
(NIDA)

International Research Collaborations on HIV/AIDS and Drug Use (R01)
(RFA-DA-10-008)
(NIDA)

The National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (U10)
(RFA-DA-10-009)
(NIDA)

SBIR E-learning for HAZMAT and Emergency Response (SBIR [R43/R44])
(RFA-ES-09-006)
(NIEHS)

Administration for Children and Families

University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) Minority Partnership Grants
(HHS-2009-ACF-ADD-DD-0096)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Education Initiative on Human Health and the Environment
(CDC-RFA-TS09-902)

Food and Drug Administration

Innovative Food Defense Projects (R18)  (PAR-09-203)

Health Resources and Services Administration

Effective Follow-up in Newborn Screening (HRSA-09-242)

Telehealth Services For Children And Youth With Epilepsy (HRSA-09-239)

Department of Agriculture

Rangeland Research Program  (USDA-CSREES-OP-002303)
(Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service)

Department of Defense

National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship (NSSEFF)
(AFOSR-BAA-2009-4)
(Air Force)

Research Initiatives at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPSBAA09-003)
(Navy)

Department of Homeland Security

Multidisciplinary, Multi-Institutional Science and Technology Competitions
(DHS-09-ST-061-003)

Department of the Interior

Desert Tortoise Monitoring (FWS-RENO-09-11)
(Fish & Wildlife Service)

Wildlife Without Borders - Critically Endangered Animal Conservation Fund
(WWB-CEACF)
(Fish & Wildlife Service)

Department of Justice

Advancing Criminal Justice Policy, Practice, and Technology (NIJ-2009-2299)
(National Institute of Justice)

Methodological Research to Support the Redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey: Screening Questions  (2009-BJS-2263)
(Bureau of Justice Statistics)

Women Offenders: Gender Responsive Approaches to Risk and Need Assessment
(09M12)
(National Institute of Corrections)

Department of Transportation

Increasing Seat Belt Use Among Recent Hispanic Immigrants
(DTNH22-09-R-00224)

NASA

Design And Usage Of Massively Multiplayer Online Games And Persistent Immersive Synthetic Environments  (NNG09AZ32R)

Announcements

Early Graduate Student Researcher Awards: Call for Applications

The Early Graduate Student Research Awards, sponsored by the APA Science Student Council, recognize students who demonstrate outstanding research abilities early in their graduate training (i.e., within the first three years of doctoral study).  Both overall research experience and specific completed research projects are considered in selecting awardees.

Up to three awards are given each year, drawn from basic science, applied science, and interdisciplinary science areas.  Each Early Graduate Student Research Award is in the amount of $1,000.

The application deadline is September 15, 2009.

For more details about the awards, including eligibility requirements and application materials, visit the Science Directorate web site. If you have questions, please contact the Science Directorate via email or telephone (202-336-6000).

Advanced Training Institute on Exploratory Data Mining

Applications are still being accepted for this summer’s APA Advanced Training Institute (ATI) on Exploratory Data Mining in Behavioral Research.  This intensive training program will be held July 20-24, 2009, at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

This ATI provides an overview of recent methodological advances in exploratory data mining for the analysis of psychological and behavioral data. In contrast to traditional hypothesis-driven approaches to analysis, exploratory data mining enables investigators to assess the predictive value of all possible combinations of variables in a data set. Data mining has emerged in recent years as a major area of statistical research and practice and is increasingly employed by psychologists and other behavioral scientists.

The APA Science Directorate sponsors four to five ATIs per summer.  These courses are intended for new and established faculty, post-doctoral fellows, advanced graduate students, and other researchers.  More information can be found on the Science Directorate web site.

Applications are available on the web site and must be submitted electronically through the web site.  They are being accepted until seats are filled.  For more information, contact the APA Science Directorate via email or telephone (202-336-6000).

Scientists’ Guide to the 2009 APA Convention Now Available

The initial compilation of the popular “Scientist’s Guide” is now available on the APA Convention web site. In addition to information about Division programs, the Guide features listings of Presidential programs, plenary sessions, scientific award addresses, and dozens of other sessions that will be of significant interest to the science community at the 2009 Convention in Toronto.

Click here to view the guide.

Be sure to check back during the weeks preceding the Convention as further information will likely be added to the Guide. Paper copies of the Guide will also be available at the Science Directorate booth at the Convention.