Both intensional and extensional explanations of linguistic meaning involve notions -- linguistic roles and referential relations, respectively -- which are not perspicuous and seem to evade satisfactory explanations themselves. Following Sellars, I make a move away from semantic explanation of the designation relation and of linguistic roles toward an explanation which relates to the use of linguistic and perceptual signs (i.e., pragmatics). In doing so, concerns are raised that seem to be more closely associated with epistemology and phenomenology than with the philosophy of language or logic. In particular, experience is taken to be intentional, i.e., to have a propositional content which is irreducible to the causal order. Along with intentionality, certain essentially autobiographical conditions of experience are neglected in typical conceptions of the problem of meaning. They are reintroduced here. Further, I take as a presupposition the pragmatist notion that each of our conceptual schemes emerges from a community of persons, rather than from individuals. What follows from the preceding starting points is a picture of incomplete personhood in which persons are seen as being inclined both toward experiential wholes which have conceptual content and toward establishing and unifying beliefs which resolve doubts. Because of the conditions of experience constitutive of, and peculiar to, personhood and the necessity of the community for individual inquiry, the notion of incomplete personhood has a central position in my pragmatist conception of the problem of meaning. By emphasizing the pragmatistic conditions of experience and the active role of persons in finding objects and in continually reaching toward a final complete picture, the problems related to objectivity are found to be peripheral to a conception of meaning which captures the practice(s) of persons' living object-directed lives. The result is a new way of conceiving of the problem of meaning. / Master of Arts

To acquire language, children must learn how to categorize objects on the basis of the meanings that cultures have assigned to the objects. A series of six experiments tested how preschool-aged children categorize familiar objects. Each experiment used a matching-to-sample format in which children matched pictures of familiar objects (comparisons) to a sample stimulus picture. The sample and one comparison related taxonomically (on the basis of similar features) and the other comparison related thematically (on the basis of function) from which the children were to find another stimulus that was the same as the sample. Each experiment was a systematic replication of published research and of the prior experiment. In all six experiments, these preschool-aged children demonstrated a statistically significant preference for the taxonomic stimulus. No statistically significant differences were found between genders. The results of these six experiments did not support the development trend described in the majority of the extant literature. These findings are also contrary to the research literature, with one noted exception.

Thesis. 1976. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Psychology. / Microfiche copy available in Archives and Humanities. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 67-69. / Ph.D.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Many advanced cancer patients struggle with distress including depressive symptoms, anxiety, anger about cancer, and anger toward God. Cancer patients may perceive their illness as an injustice (i.e., appraise their illness as unfair, severe, and irreparable or blame others for their illness), and this may be a risk factor for distress. To date, illness-related perceptions of injustice have not been examined in cancer patients. Based on prior research and theory (i.e., Just World Theory, Park’s Meaning Making Model, and Loneliness Theory), there are multiple ways to conceptualize the relationship between perceived injustice related to the cancer experience and distress. The purpose of this project was to compare two theory-based conceptualizations of the relationships between perceived injustice and distress symptoms in advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Aims were to (1) examine the direct effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms; (2) examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on distress symptoms through meaning making and acceptance of cancer (my conceptual model), examine the indirect effects of perceived injustice on psychological outcomes (i.e., distress symptoms and acceptance of cancer) through meaning making (Park’s Meaning Making Model), and compare the two models; (3) examine loneliness as a potential moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model; and (4) explore whether the associations based on my conceptual model differed between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Cross-sectional data from advanced lung (n = 102) and prostate (n = 99) cancer patients were examined. Seven models were tested using path analyses. Results partially supported my conceptual model; perceived injustice was directly and indirectly associated with distress symptoms through acceptance of cancer but not through meaning making. Findings did not support Park’s Meaning Making Model, as meaning making did not help account for the associations between perceived injustice and psychological outcomes. Path analyses also indicated that loneliness was not a significant moderator of the mediations based on my conceptual model. Furthermore, associations based on my conceptual model did not differ between advanced lung and prostate cancer patients. Given mixed support for my conceptual model, supplemental path analyses were conducted that included loneliness as an exploratory mediator of associations between perceived injustice and distress symptoms. Findings suggested that perceived injustice was indirectly associated with distress symptoms through loneliness and acceptance of cancer. Findings support testing acceptance-based interventions to address distress related to perceived injustice in advanced cancer patients.

Research on the definition and conceptual understanding of meaningful work is fragmented. The purpose of this study is to better understand characteristics of people who experience meaningful work. Variables will be selected based on conceptual importance and empirical significance from a range of theoretical perspectives on meaningful work. The following constructs were studied through cluster analysis: (a) meaningful work, (b) authenticity at work, (c) career confidence, (d) work centrality, (e) religiousness, (f) meaning in life, (g) coworker satisfaction, (h) calling, (i) work engagement, (j) career commitment, and (k) work values. A sample of 437 adults who endorsed finding their work meaningful were recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) online data collection service. A two-step process by Gore (2000) was followed for the data analysis. First, hierarchical cluster analysis using the “NbClust” package in R statistical software (Charrad, Ghazzali, Boiteau, & Niknafs, 2015) was used to determine the best number of clusters. Subsequently, k-means cluster analyses were used to assign individual cases to specific clusters.

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