Identity Theories of Truth and the Tractatus

The paper is concerned with the idea that the world is the totality of facts, not of things – with what is involved in thinking of the world in that way, and why one might do so. It approaches this issue through a comparison between Wittgenstein's Tractatus and the identity theory of truth proposed by Hornsby and McDowell. The paper's positive conclusion is that there is a genuine affinity between these two. A negative contention is that the modern identity theory is vulnerable to a complaint of idealism that the Tractatus can deflect.     

PRECURSORS AND CORRELATES OF WOMEN'S VIOLENCE: CHILD ABUSE TRAUMATIZATION, VICTIMIZATION OF WOMEN, AVOIDANCE COPING, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMS

Path modeling assessed (a) the influence of child abuse traumatization on women's use of violence and their experiences of being victimized, (b) the association of these three variables to depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and (c) the indirect pathways from women using violence and their being victimized to psychological symptoms through avoidance coping. Among 108 primarily African American women recruited from the community who used violence with a male partner, women's use of violence, but not their experiences of being victimized, was predicted by child abuse traumatization. Women's use of violence did not directly or indirectly predict symptomatology. In contrast, child abuse traumatization and women's experiences of being victimized were predictive of both depressive and posttraumatic stress symptoms, and being victimized also was related indirectly to depressive symptoms through avoidance coping.     

Preferences for Job Attributes Associated with Work and Family: A Longitudinal Study of Career Outcomes

We examined the relationship between family responsibilities, job attribute preferences, and career-related outcomes (salary, management level, job satisfaction) in a longitudinal study of 171 women and men students in the same MBA program. Findings indicated that preferences for high salary and good advancement opportunities assessed when students entered the MBA program predicted satisfaction with their salary and advancement outcomes 3 years later. Preferences did not predict actual salary or management level outcomes, however. Together, these findings suggested that individuals may adjust their feelings of satisfaction to reduce dissonance created by their inability to attain higher salaries or a higher management rank. Perhaps because these individuals were in the early stage of their management careers, we found no significant associations between family responsibilities and career-related outcomes. An earlier version of this paper was presented as part of the symposium, “You can't have all of it all of the time: Moderators of the relationship between family and career,” at the Academy of Management in New Orleans, LA, August 2004.     

NATIVITY AND YEARS IN THE RECEIVING CULTURE AS MARKERS OF ACCULTURATION IN ETHNIC ENCLAVES

The current study was conducted to ascertain the validity of two commonly used markers of acculturation (nativity and years in the receiving culture) in an enclave context. Relationships between these markers and a bidimensional measure of acculturation were examined in a convenience sample of Hispanic immigrant adolescents and their caregivers in Miami. Nativity was examined using adolescent-reported data; approximately half of the youth were U.S.-born and half foreign-born, but all of the caregivers were foreign-born. Years in the receiving culture was examined using both adolescent and caregiver data. Results indicated that nativity was significantly associated with adoption of receiving-culture practices, with a small to moderate effect size. Years in the receiving culture was significantly associated with adoption of receiving-culture practices only for adolescent girls and for female caregivers who immigrated as youth. Neither nativity nor years in the receiving culture explained even moderate amounts of variance in retention or loss of culture-of-origin practices.     

Retrospective Analysis of Gender Differences in Reaction to Media Coverage of Crisis Events: New Insights on the Justice and Care Orientations

We surveyed 2,125 men and 3,735 women (N = 5,860) across the USA to test hypothesized relationships regarding women’s and men’s use of justice and care orientations when they confront crisis events with moral implications. Consistent with previous research, we found that women were more likely than men to adopt a care orientation. Contrary to expectations, however, women also adopted a justice response to a greater degree than did men. We found that, in response to a crisis, women, unlike men, were more likely to believe they would connect with others and take action. Implications for explaining inconsistencies in prior research findings on the justice and care orientations, and for conceptualizing these important constructs in a new way, are discussed.     

The relation between spatial and mathematical abilities: Potential factors underlying suppression

Two experiments examined possible factors underlying the finding that grades in mathematics act as a suppressor variable in the relation between spatial abilities and gender. Specifically, the role of reading abilities was investigated in Experiment 1 by using English grades as a measure of these abilities. Experiment 2 was based on the notion that time pressures are involved at some level in both spatial performance and mathematics grades. The influence of this factor was examined by administering a spatial task with or without time limit and examining the suppression effect in both conditions. In both experiments, participants completed the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) as a measure of spatial ability. In Experiment 1, all participants were tested with limited time to complete the MRT and they were required to report their high school course grades in mathematics and English. Results revealed that both grades in high school mathematics and English produced significant suppression. However, the amount of suppression produced by each measure was similar. Therefore, the prediction that suppression would be greater with English than with mathematics grades was not supported. Experiment 2 involved testing in groups or individually with or without time limits on the MRT, whereas the Water Level Test was administered untimed, and only grades in mathematics were obtained from participants. Results supported the prediction that the suppression effect is greater when time limits are applied than when they are not. Implications of the results for an explanation of the observed suppression are discussed. Emphasis is placed on the difficulties inherent to the identification of factors underlying suppression.     

The evolution of the boundaryless career concept: Examining physical and psychological mobility

Although there has been increased interest in the boundaryless career since the publication of Arthur and Rousseau’s book (1996), there is still some misunderstanding about what the concept means. This article examines the boundaryless career and presents a model that attempts to visually capture Arthur and Rousseau’s suggestion that the concept involves six underlying meanings. Rather than considering whether or not an individual has a boundaryless career, the model focuses on the degree of mobility reflected in a career along two continua: one psychological, one physical. Based on the model, we suggest five propositions and a series of directions for future research.