Theory of Deadly Initials

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The Theory of Deadly Initials was a theory published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research in 1999^[1], which proposed that there is a link between the lifespan of human males and their initials. The research, carried out by psychologists Nicholas Christenfeld, David Phillips and Laura Glynn, and published in the paper "What's in a Name: Mortality and the Power of Symbols", suggested that men with "negative" sets of initials (e.g. DIE, PIG) have, on average, a shorter lifespan than those with "positive" initials (e.g. ACE, VIP). The average increase in life expectancy for a set of positive initials was claimed to be 4.48 years, while the average decrease in life expectancy for negative initials was claimed as 2.8 years.

In 2005, the theory was investigated by Gary Smith, and economics professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California, and Stilian Morrison, a student there. They were unable to find any pattern in the samples they studied.^[2]

[edit] References

^ What's in a name: Mortality and the power of symbol. Christenfeld, Nicholas, David P. Phillips and Laura M. Glynn. J. Psychosomatic Research, vol. 47 no. 3 (September 1999), pp. 241–254.
^ Monogrammic Determinism?. Smith, Gary and Stilian Morrison. Psychosomatic Medicine, no. 67 (2005) pp. 820–824. Available online.