Lucky numbers: Choice strategies in the Pennsylvania Daily Number game

Examined the amount of money bet during a week of Pennsylvania's Daily Number game. In this game, players receive a predetermined payoff for picking the 3-digit number (000 to 999) drawn on that day. The betting distribution was distinctly nonuniform. Several betting patterns were identified, such as picking triples and avoiding double 9s. In addition, 121 adults and 215 students were asked to rate selected numbers for randomness, luckiness, and perceived history of winning; to categorize numbers; and to free associate to numbers. It is proposed that people seem to choose highly patterned, available, and/or "lucky" numbers. People apparently do not bet numbers that reflect the random process of the game (do not utilize a representativeness heuristic).

Mental Health and Aging at the 2005 White House Conference on Aging: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Success! At the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, three-quarters of the 1,200 national delegates voted to improve “recognition, assessment, and treatment of mental illness and depression among older Americans.” This resulted in mental health being ranked as #8 of the final 50 WHCoA policy resolutions resulting from the conference. Joining this resolution in the “top ten” were two resolutions intimately tied to hopes for addressing the mental health needs of older adults—at #6 “Support Geriatric Education and Training for Health Care Professionals, Paraprofessionals, Health Profession Students and Direct Care Workers,” and #9 “Attain Adequate Numbers of Healthcare Personnel in All Professions Who are Skilled, Culturally Competent, and Specialized in Geriatrics.”