Jeanne D. Day

Principles and Virtues A Foundation for Ethical Decisions, Policies, and Character

Principle ethics can be described as a set of prima facie obligations one considers when confronted with an ethical dilemma. Virtue ethics focuses on character traits and nonobligatory ideals that facilitate the development of ethical individuals. Within the context of the assumption that the major responsibilities or primary goals of professionals are to be competent and to serve the common good, we suggest that integrating these complementary ethical perspectives provides a coherent structure for enhancing the ethical competence of psychologists and counselors and the level of public trust in the character and actions of these professions and their members. Virtue ethics, rooted in the narratives and aspirations of specific communities, can be particularly helpful to professionals in discerning appropriate ethical conduct in multicultural settings and interactions. We propose that future directions for research and instruction be expanded from quandary ethics to encompass issues of character

Verbal Ability and Executive Functioning Development in Preschoolers at Head Start

Research suggests that executive functioning skills may enhance the school readiness of children from disadvantaged homes. Questions remain, however, concerning both the structure and the stability of executive functioning among preschoolers. In addition, there is a lack of research addressing potential predictors of longitudinal change in executive functioning during early childhood. This study examined the structure of executive functioning from fall to spring of the preschool year using a multimethod battery of measures. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed a unidimensional model fit the data well at both time points, and tests of measurement invariance across time points indicated that childrens mean latent executive functioning scores significantly improved over time. Verbal ability was a significant predictor of longitudinal change in executive functioning. Theoretical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Interpretations of sexual harassment: An attributional analysis

Two studies were conducted to examine an attributional model of judgments of sexual harassment. The key assumption of the model is that judgments of sexual harassment involve the attribution of negative intentions (e.g., hostility or callousness) to an actor with regard to a sexual behavior. The two studies effectively demonstrated that many factors known to influence the attribution of intentionality play an important role in judgments of sexual harassment. The findings are discussed with regard to understanding how people differ in their judgments of sexual harassment.

Construction and Evaluation of a Number Sense Test With Head Start Children.

The reliability and, to a lesser extent, the validity of the newly created Number Sense Test was evaluated with a group of 40 3- to 5-year-old children attending Head Start. Six number sense skills (e.g., counting, number identification, addition-subtraction) and childrens feelings about school were assessed both before and after instruction either in 2 of these skills (i.e., counting and number identification) or in insects (i.e., an attention control condition). The Number Sense Test was found to have high internal consistency and to be a valid means of assessing pre- to posttest improvements in instructed skills as a function of condition. Except for addition-subtraction, training effects did not generalize to non-instructed number sense skills. In neither condition did instruction have a harmful effect on childrens largely positive feelings about school.

Comparison of static and dynamic assessment procedures and their relation to independent performance

Relationships between pretraining skills, ease of learning, and later posttest performance were assessed in both spatial (i.e., block design) and verbal (i.e., similarities) task domains. Eighty-four preschool children (M = 4 years 11 months, range = 4 years 0 months to 5 years 6 months) were given pretests, training, and posttests on block design and similarities tasks. Two measurement models and four structural models were tested to determine (a) if pretest, learning and posttest performances were domain specific, and (b) if paths from both pretests and learning assessments were needed to predict posttest performance. The measurement model that fit the data maintained separate verbal and spatial domains. The structural model that best fit the data included paths from both pretest and learning assessments to posttest performances within each domain. Thus, L. S. Vygotskys (1978) claim that pretest and learning assessments together are better indicators of an individuals ability than either measure alone was supported.

A multitrait-multimethod study of academic and social intelligence in college students.

Two multitrait-multimethod studies of academic and social intelligences show that cognitive and behavioral aspects of social intelligence (Experiment 1) and several cognitive aspects of social intelligence (i.e., social perception, social knowledge, and social insight; Experiment 2) can be discriminated. Verbal, nonverbal, self-, and other-report measures were administered to 134 female college students (Experiment 1) and to 227 male and female college students (Experiment 2). Convergent and discriminant validities were established for cognitive and behavioral dimensions of social intelligence (Experiment 1) and for two dimensions of cognitive social intelligence (social knowledge and social perception; Experiment 2). In both studies, the cognitive social intelligence factors had poor convergent validities, and research participants were college students attending a highly selective university

Static and dynamic measures of ability: an experimental comparison

Third graders were trained to mastery on a balance-scale strategy by either a scaffolded method (the amount of help decreased as childrens proficiency increased) or a nonscaffolded method (help did not vary with childrens proficiency). A multivariate analysis of covariance, with intelligence, cognitive tempo, independence, and pretraining balance-scale skill as covariates, revealed that students in the scaffolded group performed consistently across maintenance and transfer posttests whereas the performance of students in the nonscaffolded condition declined on transfer posttests. A dynamic measure (number of examples required to reach mastery) predicted transfer but not maintenance in both groups, but in the nonscaffolded condition, intelligence and pretraining skill also predicted transfer performance

Enhancing possible selves in Mexican American students

This project assessed the modifiability of “possible selves” in young Mexican American children. Three intervention conditions were compared in a pre- and posttest design: child-only intervention, parent and child intervention, and a no-intervention control. Following eight intervention sessions, children in the two intervention groups showed significant gains in understanding the characteristics associated with becoming a good student and in recognizing the value of education in bringing about future occupational goals. Children in the intervention conditions also reported greater interest in becoming a physician, judge, or pilot — occupations they had directly experienced during training. The parent intervention phase contributed little to augmenting the positive results attributable to the child intervention component.

Possible Selves: Applications for Career Counseling

Possible selves is a future-oriented, personalized, affect-laden, motivating form of self-knowledge, which provides a link between ones self-concept and incentives for future behavior, an interpretive framework for an individuals current views of self, and a way to link present behaviors with future outcomes. This article explores the usefulness of thinking about ones occupational future in the context of possible selves. Beneficial aspects of doing so include a personalization of career-related choices including their affective components, incentives to be planful, and an explicit focus on the future. Ideas are presented for applying possible selves to a career-counseling focus for racial/ethnic minorities and women. Cautions related to the construct and directions for research are explored.

Dynamic assessment and giftedness: The promise of assessing training responsiveness

Dynamic assessment is presented as an alternative method of measuring intellectual ability, and ways in which dynamic assessment addresses common criticisms of traditional intelligence tests are discussed. Dynamic assessment can be used to identify childrens learning abilities, determine how and/or what to teach, assess giftedness in minority and poor children, control for individual differences, and explore different domains of giftedness in individual children.