autocommit to off?

Hi all,

I've scoured the net for a simple way to set AUTOCOMMIT off in psql, for
the duration of a session (not simply a transaction). The only real
reference that I can find says that "\set autocommit off" will do what I
want. It doesn't though. For example, if session A inserts a row, then
session B has access to that data immediately (from another terminal).

I realize that you can fire off a begin/end pair for every statement,
but I'm looking for something more global.

Oracle's SQL*Plus is what I'm used to, which is the reason that I'm asking.

Feel free to correct any (mis)understandings I have of psql.

Cheers,

Bricklen