Gender differences in the determinants of the willingness to accept an international assignment

Multinational organisations experience difficulties in finding managers willing to accept international assignments. This study has therefore focused on factors that can predict males' and females' willingness to accept international assignments, or to follow their partners on international assignments. Hypotheses were formulated based on the Rational Choice/Human Capital Theory, the Family Power Theory, the Life Role Salience Theory, and the Psychological Contract Theory. Data were collected using a written questionnaire from 178 male and 122 female employees of a large Anglo-Dutch company. Results using regression analyses showed that male candidates were more willing to accept an overseas assignment and more willing to follow their partners than female ones. Further, the rational choice and family power theories were best able to explain male candidates' willingness, whereas females' willingness was better predicted using variables from the life role salience and psychological contract theories. However, in terms of willingness to follow their partner, all the sets of variables are significant predictors for men, whereas, for women, only rational choice and family power variables explain a significant amount of the variance. The results are discussed in terms of theory and organisational practice.     

Jung's equation of the ground of being with the ground of psyche

The paper amplifies Jung's psychology of ground associated with the culmination of the alchemical process in the unus mundus. It argues that Jung and Dorn identify the experience of the ground with the experience of divinity as the common originary source of individual and totality. It notes the monistic and pantheistic implications of the experience and goes on to amplify the experience through Eckhart's mediaeval mysticism of ground and Paul Tillich's modern philosophical/theological understanding of ground. It concludes that the Jung/Dorn psychological understanding of ground supersedes monotheistic consciousness. Their vision supports the emergence of a societal myth based on the identification of the ground as the source of all divinities and faith in them. This source currently urges a mythic consciousness that would surpass its past and current concretions and so alleviate the threat that monotheistic consciousness in any domain now poses to human survival.     

Body dissatisfaction assessed by the Photographic Figure Rating Scale is associated with sociocultural,personality, and media influences

Swami, V., Taylor, R. & Carvalho, C. (2011). Body dissatisfaction assessed by the Photographic Figure Rating Scale is associated with sociocultural, personality, and media influences. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology 52, 57–53. This study sought to investigate the convergent validity of a new measure of body dissatisfaction, namely the Photographic Figure Rating Scale (PFRS), in relation to media influence, celebrity worship, the Big Five personality factors, and respondent weight status. A total of 401 female undergraduates completed a battery of scales consisting of the PFRS, the third revision of the Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance Scale (SATAQ‐3), a measure of celebrity worship, a measure of the Big Five personality factors, and provided their demographic details. Results of a multiple regression showed that body dissatisfaction was most strongly predicted by two of the SATAQ‐3 subscales and participant body mass index, although celebrity worship and Emotional Stability added incremental variance. Limitations of the current study are discussed in conclusion.     

公共利益:公共伦理的价值基础

公共伦理是公共管理行为应遵循的准则与规范体系,其功能在于有效调节、规范和引导公共管理行为,促进公共管理目标的实现,公共伦理必须寻找到合理的价值基础。本文认为,公共利益既是公共伦理建设的出发点,又是公共伦理致力于实现的目标,理应成为公共伦理的价值基础。同时,以公共利益作为公共伦理的价值基础,实现了义务论与目的论的统一,使公共伦理具备了很强的实践品质。     

More evidence on size modification in spatial axes systems of varying complexity

Pictorial space can be conceptualized as aggregate space (where figures compete for limited available space) or as axial space (where space is infinite and exists independently of figures). That these two kinds of space concepts follow a developmental sequence was tested by investigating size regulation mechanisms in 7- to 12-year-old children's figure drawings. An earlier longitudinal study had shown that the more figures were drawn and the more complex the spatial axes system, the smaller the figures. Two studies confirmed that object-driven size reduction was the size regulation mechanism in younger children, whereas axes-driven size reduction was the only factor regulating figure size in 12-year-old children. Size reduction occurred in a gradual fashion in younger children, whereas size reduction was more pronounced in crossed axes systems in older children. In addition, 7-year-old children showed a dynamic and fluid interaction between internal and external task demands for size regulation.     

Narcissism,psychic recognition,and affective validation: A homage to the “later Rosenfeld”

Abstract

Recalling his own participation in a daily group seminar with Rosenfeld and taking this experience as his starting point, the Author describes and discusses the later Rosenfeld’s approach to working with severely disturbed narcissistic patients. Through a detailed analysis of a supervision of a session with a psychotic patient, this paper essentially highlights how important it is to construct a (cognitive and affective) basic common ground in order to subsequently proceed to interpretations of transference. In particular, the paper brings to light those elements allowing the creation of that basic cognitive-affective ground that is necessary to profitably (in a manner useful to the patient) connect the relational events narrated and acted by the patient with the hic et nunc of analytic interaction.     

A multicriteria assignment problem

Our objective in this paper is to propose a procedure for solving a multicriteria assignment problem. Given qualitative and quantitative data, the proposed procedure makes assignments taking into consideration the multicriteria aspect of the problem. As an illustrative example, we consider the assignment of referees to the football matches in an Italian championship. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Conversation, gaze coordination, and beliefs about visual context

Conversation is supported by the beliefs that people have in common and the perceptual experience that they share. The visual context of a conversation has two aspects: the information that is available to each conversant, and their beliefs about what is present for each other. In our experiment, we separated these factors for the first time and examined their impact on a spontaneous conversation. We manipulated the fact that a visual scene was shared or not and the belief that a visual scene was shared or not. Participants watched videos of actors talking about a controversial topic, then discussed their own views while looking at either a blank screen or the actors. Each believed (correctly or not) that their partner was either looking at a blank screen or the same images. We recorded conversants' eye movements, quantified how they were coordinated, and analyzed their speech patterns. Gaze coordination has been shown to be causally related to the knowledge people share before a conversation, and the information they later recall. Here, we found that both the presence of the visual scene, and beliefs about its presence for another, influenced language use and gaze coordination.     

消费时代大众文化的审美伦理与哲学省思

随着经济全球化的发展,以消费主义为标志的后现代文化思潮对中国当代社会的全方位浸染已是在所难免,以情感制作与“快适伦理”为表征的“后情感主义”审美趋向日渐明朗。然而,大众文化承诺给人们的欢乐神话与身体解放,却往往陷入娱乐透支后的身心疲乏和性感聚焦后的精神空幻,形象的欲望满足取代了文化的意义追索,审美正义与文化伦理成为亟待解决的现实问题。消费时代的大众文化完全无视生命中的“痛苦”、“严肃”、“庄严”与“意志”一端,沉溺于“人生幻觉”“瞬间的快感”,在世俗娱乐中丧失起码的自知与清明,不但以“媚俗”为荣甚至以“恶俗”为乐,踏越了文化伦理的底线,使中国文化道统愈陷困境。