Does attractiveness buy happiness? “It depends on where you’re from”

Abstract Previous studies document that attractiveness predicts life outcomes, including well‐being and social connectedness. This study investigates whether the attractiveness–outcomes link is especially strong in settings, such as many urban areas, that promote relationship constructions as a product of personal choice. This link may weaken in settings, such as many rural areas, that promote less voluntaristic‐independent relationship constructions. Analyses of survey data from a national representative (United States) sample supported these hypotheses. Attractiveness (operationalized as waist‐to‐hip ratio) predicted well‐being and social connectedness among urban (n = 257) but not rural (n = 330) women. Social connectedness mediated the urban–rural moderation of the attractiveness/well‐being link. Findings suggest that frequently observed attractiveness effects are the product of particular, modern social contexts that promote relationship choice.     

FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION AND THE PROBLEM OF EPISTEMIC PRIVILEGE

There have been a number of developments within religious epistemology in recent years. Currently, the dominant view within mainstream philosophy of religion is, arguably, reformed epistemology. What is less well known is that feminist epistemologists have also been active recently within the philosophy of religion, advancing new perspectives from which to view the link between knowledge and religious experience. In this article I examine the claim by certain feminist religious epistemologists that women are both epistemically oppressed and epistemically privileged, and I consider whether or not this justifies the specific re‐conceptualisations of religious terms that such epistemologists have proposed.     

Adverse work experiences and marital outcomes in middle years: Role of self‐esteem

This study assesses the decade‐long influence of adverse work experiences on husbands' and wives' problem‐solving behaviors and marital quality through self‐esteem using structural equation modeling with a sample of 308 dual‐earning couples. Analyses controlled for earlier marital quality, allowing for assessment of the residual change in marital quality over 10 years. Adverse work experiences directly affected marital quality and indirectly affected decreases in marital quality through lower self‐esteem; lastly, individuals' self‐esteem was positively related to increased problem‐solving behaviors. In addition, there was a crossover association, with wives' and husbands' self‐esteem influencing one another's problem‐solving behaviors. These results contribute to a deeper understanding about the processes responsible for the detrimental impact of adverse work experiences.     

Relationships Among Multicultural Training,Moral Development,and Racial Identity Development of White Counseling Students

Sixty‐eight counselor education students responded to the Defining Issues Test (J. Rest, 1986) and the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale (J. E. Helms & R. T. Carter, 1990) to determine relationships among multicultural training and moral and racial identity development. Results of this exploratory study indicate that multicultural training can be helpful in changing modes of information processing related to racial attitudes but does not seem to promote the cognitive complexity needed for moral development. The discussion includes a recommendation for students to discuss ethical dilemmas and participate in active problem solving specific to multicultural issues.     

Competition,Recognition, and Approval-Seeking

Here I support my position in “Do Good Feminists Compete?” against the suggestion that competing with others weakens rather than strengthens one's sense of self.     

Definition and the Question of “Woman”

Within recent feminist philosophy, controversy has developed over the desirability, and indeed, the possibility of defining the central terms of its analysis—"woman,”“femininity,” etc. The controversy results largely from the undertheorization of the notion of definition; feminists have uncritically adopted an Aristotelian treatment of definition as entailing metaphysical, rather than merely linguistic, commitments. A “discursive” approach to definition, by contrast, allows us to define our terms, while avoiding the dangers of essentialism and universalism.     

THE THOUGHT AND TALK OF INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM: REFLECTIONS ON IAN HACKING

Abstract: Ian Hacking proposes that ways of talking about autistic experience can shape, or even transform, what it is like to be autistic. I explore the grounds for two nonexclusive interpretations of this thesis. The informative interpretation holds that, because nonautistics cannot read mental states into autistic behaviour as they normally do with one another, autistic self-narratives give nonautistics unique insights into what it is like to be autistic. This in turn affects how nonautistics interact with autistic individuals, enriching their social environment in various ways. The more radical, transformative interpretation holds that autistic experience is itself moulded under the influence of developing a language-game for talking about autistic experience. I endorse both theses, albeit with some cautionary remarks.