EXPLAINING WHY NEGATIVE EVENTS WILL HAPPEN TO ONESELF - PARASUICIDES ARE PESSIMISTIC BECAUSE THEY CANT SEE ANY REASON NOT TO BE

Parasuicides (N = 18) were compared with matched controls (N = 18) on their subjective probability judgements for nine future, negative, sel f-relevant events. Prior to the probability judgements, subjects were asked to think of reasons why the events would or would not happen. Th e ease with which they were able to think of reasons was assessed by t ime taken to think of the first reason, number of different reasons gi ven in 90 seconds and a subjective rating of difficulty. Relative to c ontrols, parasuicides judged negative events to be more likely. They a lso showed evidence of finding it more difficult to think of why those events might not happen, but were no different from controls in their ability to think of reasons why the events would happen. The effect o f thinking of reasons against negative events happening was to reduce the pessimism of parasuicides. It is suggested that parasuicide subjec ts may not actively anticipate future negative outcomes, but when pres ented with the possibilities, they judge them to be likely because of an inability to think of positive aspects of themselves or their circu mstances which would prevent those events happening.