Chisholm's Legacy on Intentionality

Abstract: The problem of intentionality, or how mind and language can take things in the world as “intentional objects,” engaged Chisholm throughout his philosophical career. This essay reviews and discusses his seminal contributions on this problem, from his early work in “Sentences about Believing” and Perceiving during the 1950s to his last and most mature account in The First Person, published in 1981 . Chisholm's final view was that de se reference, or a subject's directly taking himself as an intentional object, is fundamental and primitive, and that all other forms of intentional reference, such as de re and de dicto, can be understood on the basis of de se intentionality. The essay ends with a discussion of the worry that this account might lead to what may be called “intentional solipsism,” the proposition that the self is the only genuine object of intentional reference.     

Preparing Rural Adolescents for Post‐High School Transitions

In this study, the authors evaluated the impact of 4 career development curricular strategies and emotional/instrumental support in preparing rural adolescents to make successful post‐high school transitions. Curriculum strategies and perceived support helped 8th‐, 10th‐, and 12th‐grade students attain critical aspects of career development, enhanced student satisfaction that their education was better preparing them to achieve future educational and career goals, and increased student intentions to enter post‐high school settings that required greater levels of education and training. Girls reported earning higher grades and participating in more work‐based learning activities and intended to enter post–high school training settings that required more education than did boys.     

Cognitive development of lead exposed children from ages 6 to 15 years: an application of growth curve analysis.

The effect of lead exposure on cognitive growth patterns was assessed in a longitudinal study of 196 children. Performances on tests of verbal comprehension and perceptual organization (Vocabulary & Block Design, Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children) were measured at ages 6.5, 11 and 15 years. Growth curve analyses revealed that the quadratic model best described the relationship between test scores and age. Children with higher lead levels, as measured at age 15 years, demonstrated lower verbal comprehension scores over time and greater decline in their rate of Vocabulary development at age 15 years, as compared to children with lower lead levels. Lead exposure was not significantly associated with growth in perceptual organization test scores. Socioeconomic status and maternal intelligence were statistically significantly associated with growth patterns for both test scores, independent of the effects of lead. The findings suggest that lead negatively impacts the developmental progression of specific cognitive skills from childhood through adolescence.     

The Impact of Cognitive Diversity on Crisis Negotiations

This paper reports on a series of experiments designed to assess the impact of grouping decision makers by level of cognitive complexity on the outcomes they attain in crisis negotiations. The participants—University of Maryland undergraduates who took roles in a simulated international hostage crisis—used a computer decision support system and a controlled network environment for communications. The goal of the experiments was to better understand the dynamics that lead certain types of groupings to have greater success in negotiations, and that lead certain groups of adversaries to achieve more mutually beneficial outcomes such as compromise and agreement. The findings point to a positive relationship between the level of homogeneity in cognitive complexity among decision makers and the achievement of positive outcomes in crisis negotiations.