Lyle D. Schmidt

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

Training and Accreditation in Counseling Psychology

The training and accreditation section of the Third National Conference for Counseling Psychology addressed the following issues: (a) models of training and curriculum, (b) context of training, (c) cultural diversity, (d) identity and accreditation, (e) practicum and internship, and (f) career development and employment. This report presents the major components of these discussions and summarizes the deliberations and recommendations of the participants. Many of the principles articulated at the Northwestern and Greyston conferences are reaffirmed. The role, criteria, and purposes of APA accreditation are endorsed. The division leadership is encouraged to promote counseling psychology and the career development of counseling psychologists.

The Relationship of Victimization Experiences to Psychological Well-Being among Homeless Women and Low-Income Housed Women.

Stressful experiences and their effects on the psychological well-being of 113 homeless women and 116 low-income housed women were investigated. Measures of victimization assessed multiple dimensions of this construct, including criminal victimization, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse. Measures of current daily environmental hassles and quality of family environment while growing up also were included. Additional measures assessed positive and negative interpersonal exchanges, sense of coherence, and overall psychological distress. Regression analyses indicated that victimization experiences were significant predictors of psychological well-being for both samples. Results also highlighted the importance of investigating both the positive and negative dimensions of interpersonal influences as well as internal resources, and suggested that these resources for coping with stress may be differentially perceived and utilized by these groups. These findings also suggest the need for specific preventive and remedial interventions to empower homeless and low-income housed women. Homelessness has been viewed as a problem to which the resources available to psychologists are particularly applicable. The APA Council of Representativ es (1991) stated that the problem of homelessness is in need of attention from psychologists for a number of reasons, including the

Issues in Counseling Older People.

This article provides an identification and brie f discussion of some issues in counseling older people. Those considered are (a) why do we wish to provide counseling for older people?; (b) on what should such counseling be based?; (c) what might be achieved from counseling older people?; (d) how might costs be managed?; (e) when and where might counseling be provided?; (f) who might do the counseling?; (g) what approaches or procedures may be appropriate?; (h) should such counseling be evaluated? A thorough review of the literature on aging, with implications for counseling, is strongly recommended.

Teacher-Student Similarity in an Educational Skills Course

An investigation of the effects of student-teacher similarity in an educational skills course revealed that student satisfaction and performance were more influenced by teacher characteristics than by an interaction of teacher-student characteristics. No one teacher characteristic predominated as a source of influence; however, for characteristics on which teachers were divided into “average” and “low” (low being valued as more positive) groups, it was always the “average” group which emerged as the positive influence. Intercorrelations of the personality characteristics and performance measures are presented and implications for teacher selection are discussed.

Ethics and Technical Progress

The April 1985 draft of Guidelines for Computer-Based Tests and Interpretations was reviewed for a symposium on ethics and computers in counseling at the 1985 APA convention. These guidelines were prepared by the APA Committees on Professional Standards, and on Psychological Tests and Assessment. This paper comments on the need for ethical guidelines in computerized testing and interpretation, raises questions about some of the guidelines for administration and interpretation, and offers suggestions for possible revisions.

PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS' GRAPHIC EXPRESSION OF NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT

6 groups of undergraduate and graduate psychology students were administered the Aronson Graphic Expression Measure of n Achievement. Counseling students had significantly higher scores on this measure than most of the other groups. Students in a study skills program had significantly higher scores than either of the other two undergraduate groups.