Phillips and Smith (1990) conducted a study to investigate whether people could briefly...

Phillips and Smith (1990) conducted a study to investigate whether people could briefly postpone their deaths until after the occurrence of a significant occasion. The seniorwoman of the household plays a central ceremonial role in the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival. Phillips and Smith compared the mortality patterns of old Jewish women and old Chinese women who died of natural causes for the weeks immediately preceding and following the festival, using records from California for the years 1960–1984. Compare the mortality patterns shown in the table. (Week −1 is the week preceding the festival, week 1 is the week following, etc.)