AN ENTREE FOR SOCIAL-SCIENTISTS - INTRODUCTION

This paper presents the reasons for having an issue of JSI on the topic of new medical technologies; the rationale for including perspectives of economists, sociologists, physicians, philosophers, and others; and the organization of the issue. It also presents the framework for the papers that was established by having each author address a common set of questions. Suggestions are made about how psychological theories and methods could be applied to the questions addressed. It is concluded that this is an important area for research, though relatively little work has been done by psychologists. It is hoped that this issue will encourage JSI readers to bring their conceptual and empirical skills to the issues raised in these articles.