Dimensions of threshold work experience for high school graduates and dropouts: A factor analysis

Data on 19 threshold work experience variables were obtained by interview from 183 high school graduates and 90 dropouts $\text{1}\text{1}\text{2}$ years after leaving school. Factor analyses of these data showed strikingly similar factor structures for both groups. Seven variables were found to represent the factor dimensions adequately: Number of Jobs Held; Average Tenure in Weeks, Past Jobs; Average Number of Weeks to Find Jobs; Average Hours Worked Weekly; Average Weekly Pay, Past Jobs; Supervisor Rating, Present Level of Performance; and Employment Status. These variables, representing “objective success” were found to correlate only slightly with job satisfaction variables (Average Job Satisfaction, Past Jobs; Job Satisfaction, Present Job), thereby supporting the conceptualization of job satisfactoriness and job satisfaction as relatively independent sets of variables.     

Ned Block,Wittgenstein, and the Inverted Spectrum

In ‘Wittgenstein and Qualia’ Ned Block argues for the existence of inverted spectra and those ineffable things, qualia. The essence of his discussion is a would-be proof, presented through a series of pictures, of the possible existence of an inverted spectrum. His argument appeals to some remarks by Wittgenstein which, Block holds, commit the former to a certain ‘dangerous scenario’ wherein inverted spectra, and consequently qualia live and breath. I hold that a key premise of this proof is incoherent. Furthermore, Block’s dangerous scenario does not follow from Wittgenstein’s innocent one, as Block believes it does, but rather is in conflict with it.     

Personality and the perception of situation structure in a military environment: seeking sensation versus structure as a soldier

In this article, we explore the role of two narrow personality traits, Sensation Seeking and Need for Structure, in soldiers’ situational perception in a military task‐environment. In the first study, we assess the psychometric qualities of the personality inventories, Sensation Seeking Scale‐V and Personal Need for Structure, in an Estonian military sample. In the second study, we explore how these traits are related to soldiers’ perception of complexity (predictability) and potential harms involved (riskiness; defined as situation structure) in two field exercise tasks. We found that both of the explored personality traits are significantly and inversely related with soldiers’ perception of situation structure in a military environment. Implications for personnel selection, training, and performance of military organizations are discussed.     

‘You Could Call It Magic’: What Parents and Siblings Tell Preschoolers About Unobservable Entities

How can we explain children's understanding of the unseen world? Young children are generally able to distinguish between real unobservable entities and fantastical ones, but they attribute different characteristics to and show less confidence in their decisions about fantastical entities generally endorsed by adults, such as Santa Claus. One explanation for these conceptual differences is that the testimony children hear from others about unobservable entities varies in meaningful ways. Although this theory has some experimental support, its viability in actual conversation has yet to be investigated. Study 1 sought to examine this question in parent–child conversation and showed that parents provide similar types of content information when talking to children about both real entities and entities that they generally endorse. However, parents use different pragmatic cues when they communicate about endorsed entities than they do when talking about real ones. Study 2 showed that older siblings used discourse strategies similar to those used by parents when talking to young children about unobservable entities. These studies indicate that the types of cues children use to form their conceptions of unobservable entities are present in naturalistic conversations with others, supporting a role for testimony in children's early beliefs.     

Time-driven effects on parsing during reading

The phonological trace of perceived words starts fading away in short-term memory after a few seconds. Spoken utterances are usually 2-3 s long, possibly to allow the listener to parse the words into coherent prosodic phrases while they still have a clear representation. Results from this brain potential study suggest that even during silent reading, words are organized into 2-3 s long ‘implicit’ prosodic phrases. Participants read the same sentences word by word at different presentation rates. Clause-final words occurring at multiples of 2-3 s from sentence onset yielded increased positivity, irrespective of presentation rate. The effect was interpreted as a closure positive shift (CPS), reflecting insertion of implicit prosodic phrase boundaries every 2-3 s. Additionally, in participants with low working memory span, clauses over 3 s long produced a negativity, possibly indicating increased working memory load.