Psychological mechanisms behind organ donation decisions

尽管过去几十年来挽救生命的器官移植数量有所增加，但从死者捐赠者身上回收的器官不足以满足大多数国家日益增长的需求。在许多情况下，器官移植的可能性由于捐赠者家属的反对而被阻止，特别是当死者本人在活着时没有表示愿意捐赠器官时。该项目实施了广泛而深入的研究计划，以了解OD决策背后的行为和心理机制。它旨在找到增加器官捐献者比例的方法，并支持可能增加器官过量的政策。例如，鼓励OD接收者在媒体上讲述他们的故事（带有识别细节）可能会增加对OD的支持。同样，提供平均预期寿命的统计信息可能会促进对死亡的现实思考，并可能增加承诺OD的意愿。我们相信，增加潜在器官捐献者的数量以及公众对这一问题的认识可能有助于挽救许多等待器官移植的人的生命。(1)了解吸毒过量个案的呈报情况对病人愿意接受吸毒过量的影响（包括决定捐出已故亲属的器官）。 (2)研究死亡焦虑（个人死亡恐惧- FPD）和人们信仰的个体差异，了解它们在预测人们关于OD问题的决定中的作用。(3)为了根据情境操纵这些因素，使用启动技术（即，引发关于宗教问题的想法，关于公正与不公正的世界;诱惑命运的想法;操纵或增加FPD不同方面的显着性），以检查这种操纵对人们关于OD问题的决定的影响。总之，这些研究方向将帮助我们更好地理解OD决策背后的机制，并描述这些决策与其他捐赠决策的不同之处。

Despite the increase in the number of life-saving organ transplants in the last decades, organs recovered from deceased donors are not adequate to meet the increasing demand in most countries. In many cases, the possibility of organ transplantation is prevented because of the objection of the donor's family, especially when the deceased herself did not express her willingness for organ donation (OD) while alive. This project implements a broad and in-depth research program to understand behavioral and psychological mechanisms behind OD decisions. It aims to find ways to increase the percentage of organ donors and the support for policies that may increase ODs. For example, encouraging OD receivers to tell their story in the media (with identifying detail) may increase the support for OD. Likewise, providing statistical information about the average life expectancy may promote realistic thinking about death and may increase willingness to commit to OD. We believe that increasing the number of potential organ donors as well as the public awareness of this issue may help to save the lives of many that are waiting for organ transplants.The planned research addresses three main objectives. (1) To learn about the role of the presentation of OD cases in affecting people's willingness to commit to OD (including the decision to donate the organs of a deceased relative). (2) To examine individual differences in death anxiety (Fear of Personal Death - FPD) and in people's beliefs, to learn about their role in predicting people's decisions regarding OD issues. (3) To manipulate the factors situationally, using priming techniques (i.e., priming thoughts about religious issues, about just vs. unjust world; thoughts of tempting fate; manipulation or increasing the salience of different aspects of the FPD) to examine the influence of such manipulations on people's decisions regarding OD issues. Together, these research directions will help us to better understand the mechanisms behind OD decisions and describe how these decisions differ from other donation decisions.