“The Lost Foundation”: Kristeva's Semiotic Chora and Its Ambiguous Legacy

The aim of this essay is to reclaim Kristeva's concept of the semiotic chora by re‐inscribing it as an intervention in the context of two important postmodern debates. The first debate relates to the philosophical problem of “the beginning before the Beginning.” The second concerns the necessity and possibility of mediation between incommensurable entities: the “demonic” and the social, desire and the Law, material production and representation. I contend: (1) that the introduction of the chora in RPL is part of Kristeva's effort to restore the legacy of a materialist economy of the beginning, as this is glimpsed in Plato's Timaeus from which Kristeva borrows her controversial term; and (2) that the chora constitutes an attempt on Kristeva's part to explore a third space of ambiguous relationality in the context of which our transcendence to the “demonic” lies less “beyond us” than “in‐between.”     

SOURCES OF SUPPORT AND EXPATRIATE PERFORMANCE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF EXPATRIATE ADJUSTMENT

This study examined the role of 3 sources of support in facilitating expatriate adjustment and performance. A model was developed that examined the effects of perceived organizational support (POS), leader-member exchange (LMX), and spousal support on expatriates' adjustment to work, the country, and interacting with foreign nationals. In turn, it was expected that expatriate adjustment would influence expatriate task performance and contextual performance. The model was tested using a sample of 213 expatriate-supervisor dyads via structural equation modeling. The results indicated that POS had direct effects on expatriate adjustment, which in turn had direct effects on both dimensions of performance. Although LMX did not influence adjustment, it did have direct effects on expatriate task and contextual performance. Spousal support did not relate to adjustment or performance. Practical implications for facilitating expatriate adjustment and performance are discussed.     

Conceptual Versus Competency Approach in Human Relations Training Programs

This study examines how the changes in the Carkhuff Human Resources Development (HRD) training model affect the acquisition of defined interpersonal discrimination and communication skills. A competency-based HRD (post-1974) counselor training group was compared with a conceptual-based (pre-1974) human relations counselor training group and a no-contact counselor training group. Although the groups were equivalent on the pretest, the posttest results show statistically significant differences (p >.01) between all groups as a result of training. The findings support the competency-based training as more effective than the conceptual-based human relations training in acquiring interpersonal counseling skills.     

CROSS-NATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN RELATIONSHIPS OF WORK DEMANDS, JOB SATISFACTION, AND TURNOVER INTENTIONS WITH WORK–FAMILY CONFLICT

A study of work interference with family (WIF) among managers is described, contrasting four clusters of countries, one of which is individualistic (Anglo) and three of which are collectivistic (Asia, East Europe, and Latin America). Country cluster (Anglo vs. each of the others) moderated the relation of work demands with strain-based WIF, with the Anglo country cluster having the strongest relationships. Country cluster moderated some of the relationships of strain-based WIF with both job satisfaction and turnover intentions, with Anglos showing the strongest relationships. Cluster differences in domestic help were ruled out as the possible explanation for these moderator results.     

Rostro‐caudal and dorso‐ventral gradients in medial and lateral prefrontal cortex during cognitive control of affective and cognitive interference

Characterizing the anatomical substrates of major brain functions such as cognition and emotion is of utmost importance to the ongoing efforts of understanding the nature of psychiatric ailments and their potential treatment. The aim of our study was to investigate how the brain handles affective and cognitive interferences on cognitive processes. Functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation was performed on healthy individuals, comparing the brain oxygenation level dependent activation patterns during affective and cognitive counting Stroop tasks. The affective Stroop task activated rostral parts of medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and rostral and ventral parts of lateral PFC, while cognitive Stroop activated caudal parts of medial PFC and caudal and dorsal parts of lateral PFC. Our findings suggest that the brain may handle affective and cognitive interference on cognitive processes differentially, with affective interference preferentially activating rostral and ventral PFC networks and cognitive interference activating caudal and dorsal PFC networks.     

Feminist Resources for Biomedical Research: Lessons from the HPV Vaccines

Several feminist philosophers of science have argued that social and political values are compatible with, and may even enhance, scientific objectivity. A variety of normative recommendations have emerged regarding how to identify, manage, and critically evaluate social values in science. In particular, several feminist theorists have argued that scientific communities ought to: 1) include researchers with diverse experiences, interests, and values, with equal opportunity and authority to scrutinize research; 2) investigate or “study up” scientific phenomena from the perspectives, interests, and conditions of marginalized stakeholders potentially affected by the research; and 3) make gender, ethnicity, class, and geographical location “visible,” or use them as categories of analysis when appropriate. Yet, more work is needed to determine what exactly these recommendations would require, and the benefits they would yield, in specific research contexts. Using the recent development of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines, we examine how these three feminist recommendations would have applied. We argue that these principles would have yielded several epistemic and social benefits in the HPV case, as well as in biomedical research more generally. That is, biomedical research guided by these principles would not only be epistemically superior, but also more socially responsible.     

Approaching countertransference in psychoanalytical supervision: A qualitative investigation1

A recent examination of the literature concerning countertransference and its developments reveals its clinical usefulness in different psychoanalytical cultures. Nevertheless, a shortage of publications is apparent with respect to its approach in supervision. The authors aim in this study was to examine the concepts of transference and countertransference and how countertransference is approached in supervision, in the training of candidates, at an institute of psychoanalysis belonging to a society affiliated to the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). Qualitative research was carried out, interviewing supervisors and supervisees. Through analysis of the material acquired, the authors classifi ed the data into initial, intermediate and fi nal categories. The principal fi ndings were subdivided into three categories: the concepts of transference and countertransference, psychoanalytical listening and the complementarity of the phenomena, and the approach to countertransference. The concepts of transference and countertransference predominantly used by those interviewed are based on the totalistic outlook. Countertransference in supervision has been approached in a more direct and objective way when compared with the previous period, although great care is taken to delimit the boundaries between supervision and personal analysis. The main aim of supervision is to broaden comprehension and to deepen the interpretations directed towards the patient. These fi ndings suggest that the evolution of the concept of countertransference in different psychoanalytical cultures and developments in the analytical fi eld are contributing to this change.