a consensus method to reduce conflict

The authors describe a five-step model of conflict reduction suitable for use by practicing counselors. They present the model in how-to-do-it fashion, supplementing it with illustrations. They describe the reactions of eight counselors who used the model in 37 conflict cases and present the responses of the persons involved in the conflicts.     

Helping the ex-addict

The mass media have given anyone who is remotely interested a general picture of what it is like to be a heroin user. Very few people, however, have any idea of what it is like to try to stop being an addict. Even addicts and ex-addicts provide a confused and frequently inaccurate picture. This article discusses the types of problems counselors encounter when they deal with those who want to stop using heroin and focuses on those issues about which most people seem unaware.     

The justice and injustice of life events

An experiment employing a sample (N=280) of undergraduates from an urban university was designed to test the general hypothesis that the perception of justice and injustice in life events depends upon the relationship between two variables that are part of the stimulus situation: the valence of the person being observed (good or bad), and the valence of the outcome experienced by that person (positive or negative). The findings from both qualitative (analysis of spontaneous comments) and quantitative scale ratings supported the prediction that justice and injustice perceptions depend respectively on whether the signs of the person–outcome valences are the same or different. Two perceptual biases were revealed by the analysis. The first was a positive outcome bias: respondents rated as more just outcomes that were positive regardless of the goodness or badness of the person in the life event. The second was a justice bias: respondents in both measures found the just life events to be more just than unjust life events to be unjust. Finally the more religious respondents perceived the life events as more just regardless of the patterns of person–outcome valences than did the less religious, suggesting a third, religiosity bias. A number of theoretical implications and questions for future research were discussed, including the quantification of the hypothesis and its cross-cultural generality.     

A Research Agenda for Christian Schools

This report describes a project conducted to determine the areas of research required to support Christian schools as they carry out their task in a changing world. The project was carried out through an email survey and phone interviews of leaders of schools associated with two Christian school organizations—the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI) and Christian Schools International (CSI). The survey sample included school-based educators, university professors, and education coordinators of the two Christian school support organizations. The topic that received the most concern and response specific to Christian schools is the integration of school mission and practice.