Truth or Meaning? A Question of Priority

There is an incompatibility between the deflationist approach to truth, which makes truth transparent on the basis of an antecedent grasp of meaning, and the traditional endeavour, exemplified by Davidson, to explicate meaning through of truth. I suggest that both parties are in the explanatory red: deflationist lack a non‐truth‐involving theory of meaning and Davidsonians lack a non‐deflationary account of truth. My focus is on the attempts of the latter party to resolve their problem. I look in detail at Davidson's more recent work and suggest that it seeks to articulate a primitive notion of truth that may balance between a notion that collapses into deflationism and one that is wholly subsumed under a general theory of interpretation. I conclude that this tightrope walk is ultimately unsuccessful. Equally, however, some reasons are provided for thinking that deflationism might be equally unsuccessful with its problem. ‘Truth or meaning?’remains an open question.     

The Structure of Family Perceptions Among Adolescents and Their Parents: Individual Satisfaction Factors and Family System Factors

This study examined the underlying structure of self-reports of family functioning by adolescents, mothers, and fathers (N of individuals = 360) from intact families. Participants completed a multidimensional self-report measure of family functioning, and their responses were entered into a factor analysis with the family as the unit of analysis (N of cases = 120). The results indicate two types of factors: individual satisfaction factors and family system factors. The findings are consistent with the view that different types of characteristics assessed in self-report measures of the family may be stored as different kinds of memories. The findings also provide preliminary data toward understanding the linkages between family system factors and satisfaction with the family based on family roles as adolescents, mothers, and fathers.     

PERSONALITY, INTEGRITY, AND WHITE COLLAR CRIME: A CONSTRUCT VALIDITY STUDY

This study examined the construct validity of personality scales, a personality-based integrity test, and homogenous biodata scales as reflected in their ability to discriminate white collar criminals from other white collar employees. The sample included 365 prison inmates incarcerated in 23 federal correctional institutions for white collar offenses, and 344 individuals employed in upper-level positions of authority. A cross-validated linear discriminant function ( DF ) based on 16 variables selected in the developmental sample produced a large difference (1.83 standard deviation units) between the two sample groups. The pattern of score differences revealed the offenders as having greater tendencies toward irresponsibility, lack of dependability, and disregard of rules and social norms. This study indicates that there are large and measurable psychological differences between white collar offenders and nonoffenders, and that the major construct underlying these differences is "social conscientiousness." The best measure of this difference was a personality-based integrity test.     

Formal and Emergent Predictors of Coworkers' Perceptual Congruence on an Organization's Social Structure

This article examines several factors that are hypothesized to influence the perceptual congruence among organizational members. Perceptual congruence is defined as the extent to which members agree on their perceptions of the organization's social structure. This study proposes that employees congruence on the organization's social structure is influenced by similarities in formal structure, demographic attributes, and emergent structure. The hypotheses were tested using cognitive social structure data collected at a city's public works department.     

Parental Separation and Children's Behavioral/Emotional Problems: The Impact of Parental Representations and Family Conflict

In this longitudinal study, we examine whether the effect of parental separation on kindergarten children's behavioral/emotional problems varies according to the level of family conflict, and children's parental representations. One hundred and eighty seven children were assessed at ages 5 and 6. Family conflict was assessed using parents' ratings. Children's parental representations were assessed using a story-stem task. A multiinformant approach (parent, teacher, child) was employed to assess children's behavioral/emotional problems. Bivariate results showed that separation, family conflict, and negative parental representations were associated with children's behavioral/emotional problems. However, in multivariate analyses, when controlling for gender and symptoms at age 5, we found that children of separated parents who showed negative parental representations had a significantly greater increase in conduct problems between 5 and 6 than all other children. In terms of emotional symptoms and hyperactivity, symptoms at 5 and (for hyperactivity only) gender were the only predictors for symptoms 1 year later. Our results suggest that kindergarten children's representations of parent-child relationships moderate the impact of parental separation on the development of conduct problems, and underline play and narration as a possible route to access the thoughts and feelings of young children faced with parental separation.     

The Cognitive Value of Literary Perspectives

Unlike other forms of writing or speech, literary works do not attempt to present the world from a perspective that is equally accessible to both the writer and the reader. Instead, a reader succeeds in engaging with a literary work only through imaginatively setting aside aspects of her own perspective and engaging with a subjective perspective different from her own. I argue that this feature of literary engagement is of significant cognitive value. Through literary engagement, we expand the range and sophistication of our perspectival concepts and practice making sense of motivations from perspectives different from our own.     

GETTING CREDIT FOR PROACTIVE BEHAVIOR:SUPERVISOR REACTIONS DEPEND ON WHAT YOU VALUE AND HOW YOU FEEL

Although proactive behavior is important in organizations, it is not always appreciated by supervisors. To explain when supervisors reward proactivity with higher overall performance evaluations, we draw on attribution theory. We propose that employees' values and affect send signals about their underlying intentions, which influence supervisors' attributions about whether employees deserve credit for proactive behaviors. More specifically, we hypothesize that if employees express strong prosocial values or low negative affect, the proactive behaviors of voice, issue-selling, taking charge, and anticipatory helping will have stronger relationships with supervisors' performance evaluations. We test these hypotheses with samples of 103 managers and their direct supervisors (Study 1) and 55 firefighters and their platoon supervisors (Study 2). The hypotheses were supported in both studies, suggesting that proactive behaviors are more likely to contribute to higher supervisor performance evaluations when employees express strong prosocial values or low negative affect.     

Aided speech-identification performance in single-talker competition by older adults with impaired hearing

This study examined the effects of increased processing load on the closed-set speech-identification performance of young and older adults in a one-talker background. Since the older adults had impaired hearing, speech-identification performance was measured for spectrally shaped stimuli comparable to those experienced when wearing well-fit hearing aids. There were three groups of listeners: (1) 19 older adults with high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss; (2) 10 young adults with normal hearing who were assessed with the same spectrally shaped stimuli as the older adults; (3) 9 young adults with normal hearing who were assessed without spectral shaping and at a poorer target-to-competition ratio in an effort to equate overall performance to that of the older adults. In addition to this group factor, there were three within-participant repeated-measures independent variables designed to increase the demands on processing for the target and competing speech stimuli. These were: (1) competition meaningfulness (played in forward or reverse direction); (2) gender match between target and competing talkers (same or different gender); and (3) talker uncertainty (either the same target/competition talker pair or one of many such pairs on each trial). These three repeated-measures independent variables were examined in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. They showed roughly independent and additive effects on speech-identification such that combinations of these variables decreased performance cumulatively. Older adults performed worse than young adults across the board, but also showed diminished relative improvement as the processing load was decreased. Individual differences in performance among the older adults were also examined.     

Perceptions of Women Condom Proposers Among Chinese Americans,Japanese Americans,and European Americans1

This study was a comparison of the judgments made about a sexually active female condom proposer by men and women of 3 ethnic groups: Chinese Americans, European Americans, and Japanese Americans. Results indicate that Chinese Americans reacted more negatively to the female condom proposer than did European Americans. Japanese Americans could not be distinguished between either of the groups on most measures. However, Japanese Americans did perceive the female condom proposer to be less sexually attractive than did the other 2 groups. These findings underscore the importance of distinguishing among subgroups of Asian Americans, especially when considering issues related to gender and sexuality.     

The Effects of Stress and Gender on Nonverbal Decoding Accuracy in Kinesic and Vocalic Channels

Stress has the potential to impair accurate decoding of others’ communication. This experiment tested the effects of stress, induced through the Stroop Color-Word Test, on the accurate decoding of kinesic and vocalic emotional expressions. Respondents (N =372) viewed or heard 30 emotional expressions interspersed with multichannel color stimuli that were redundant with one another (low stress) or conflicted with one another (high stress). Analyses of accuracy scores across three trials supported three of four hypotheses. Stress debilitated accuracy primarily in the vocalic channel and at the onset of stress. The kinesic facial channel also produced consistently higher accuracy than the vocalic channel, and females achieved higher accuracy than males, but this superiority dissipated by the third trial.