A political action role for APGA

APGA needs to consider what its appropriate political role will be. In this article the author suggests that APGA adopt the role of declaring its professional position when professional concerns will be influenced by political decisions. The mechanism he describes for implementing such a role allows each member of APGA to participate in the political actions of the organization.     

Effects of Serving as APGA President

The 23 living past American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA) presidents were queried concerning their involvement in professional organizations and the impact of the APGA presidency on their lives and careers. Results are discussed in terms of implications for members and future leaders.     

The Association for Human Development: a revitalized APGA

The American Personnel and Guidance Association faces a time of challenge as it moves increasingly to a world of change and innovation. Unfortunately, the divisional structure and emphasis of the Association as presently conceived builds for divisiveness, and little organizational unity is evident. However, all members in APGA are concerned with human development, maximizing individual potential, and helping individuals profit from developmental tasks involved in living. The Association for Human Development is suggested as a new name for APGA. Conceptual models for the divisions of the Association are suggested which imply the unity of the developmental process.     

In the name of democracy: The value of democracy explains leniency towards wrongdoings as a function of group political organization

According to the “democracy‐as‐value” hypothesis, democracy has become an ideological belief system providing social value to democratic individuals, groups and institutions, granting legitimacy to their actions (even if dishonest or violent), and protecting them from consecutive punishments. The present research investigates the extent to which this legitimizing process is based on the individual endorsement of democratic principles. Across four experiments, following the misdeed of a (few) group member(s), respondents who valued democratic group organization and democracy in general expressed more lenient retributive justice judgments towards democratic (as compared with nondemocratic) offender groups. These findings shed light on the ways in which democratic ideology infuses justice judgments. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.