Differentiation of genuine suicide notes.

Abstract

Arbeit and Blatt (1973) reported that many individuals could rzot distinguish suicide notes from simulated suicide notes although they and Leenaars and Balance (1984) found that some judges who have graduate degrees and are in clinical practice can significantly make such distinctions. Sherman, Presson, and Chassin (1984) have noted that motivational factors may affect this discrimination task. The present study was designed to identify differences between suicide notes in their obviousness as notes to people in general. Shne~dman and Farberow's (1957) collection of matched and simulated notes was given to 24 individuals who were registered in an undergraduate psychology course to decide which of each pair was The results indicated that some notes were construed more consistently as genuine than others with a range from 83% correct to 13% correct, with a Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 reliability coefficient of 32. The notes were then divided (with 50% or below judged correctly compared to above 50%) into two sets: 17 obvious, 16 not obvious. The two sets were compared on the basis of 50 protocol sentences (classification) derived from Shneidman's writings on suicide. Leenaars, et al. (1985) have reported that a large number of these classifications not only predicted the content of suicide notes but also distinguished suicide notes from simulated ones. The 50 comparisons produced only one significant difference. The classification (25) regarding treating oneself like an object was more often rated as true of the obvious notes (XI' = 6.73, p < .01). However, since notes do differ in the construal of their obviousness as genuine, further research appears to be warranted to isolate what characteristics of suicide notes are salient for people and allow perception of a suicide note as genuine.