Psychological mechanisms behind organ donation decisions

尽管救命器官移植的数量在过去几十年里有所增加，但从已故捐赠者那里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，由于捐赠者家人的反对，器官移植的可能性被阻止，特别是在死者本人在生时没有表示愿意捐赠器官的情况下。该项目实施了一项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。它的目的是设法增加器官捐赠者的比例，并支持可能增加兴奋剂的政策。例如，鼓励OD接收者在媒体上讲述他们的故事(带有可识别的细节)，可能会增加对OD的支持。同样，提供关于平均预期寿命的统计信息可能会促进对死亡的现实思考，并可能增加承诺服药过量的意愿。我们认为，增加潜在器官捐赠者的数量以及提高公众对这一问题的认识，可能有助于挽救许多正在等待器官移植的人的生命。(1)了解服用过量药物个案在影响市民对服用过量药物的意愿(包括捐献已故亲属器官的决定)方面所扮演的角色。(2)考察个体在死亡焦虑(对个人死亡的恐惧--FPD)和信念上的差异，了解它们在预测人们在OD问题上的决定中所起的作用。(3)情境性地操纵因素，使用启动技术(即启动关于宗教问题的想法、关于正义与不公正的世界的想法；关于诱惑命运的想法；操纵或增加FPD的不同方面的显著程度)来考察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决定背后的机制，并描述这些决定与其他捐赠决定的不同之处。

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.