Diligence and Academic Performance

The research literature in education is devoting increasing attention to the role of student effort in academic performance. This study posits a construct, diligence, which expresses or reflects an individual's effort toward achieving physical, mental, social, and spiritual ideals. A Diligence Inventory (DI) was developed using factor analysis and construct validation procedures. Although no statistical relation was found between diligence and ability, the two variables combined to predict 37% of the variance in the academic performance of 237 high-school students. Implications for educational practice include a greater need to affirm the efforts of youth in their quest for balanced educational development.     

Laboratory training and encounter groups

This article reviews developments and concepts in the small group training field. It provides a brief historical perspective on group training and working definitions for some of the more frequently mentioned types of small groups: the T-group, encounter group, marathon, and therapy group. It also comments on research dealing with both the effects of group training and professional-ethical issues.     

The Structure of the Ravich Interpersonal Game/Test

Testing technology and research instruments in the study of family process are still generally entrenched in the assumption of the “pathological individual.” One innovative approach to the study of interpersonal process is the use of simulation games. A brief summary of the potential value of simulation for the study of the family and marriage precedes a factor analytic study of the Ravich Interpersonal Game/ Test (RIG/T), a simulation game designed to study dyadic decision-making. Seventy-five married couples seeking marital therapy in private-practice settings compose the study sample. The goal of the study is to investigate the degree to which the RIG/T is representative of the process aspects of marital decision-making, i.e., to assess content validity. Three clear factors account for a major portion of the variance: “Husband's Losing and Withdrawing While Wife Impedes,”“Wife's Losing and Withdrawing as Husband Impedes,” and “Open Conflict and Withdrawal from It.” The pattern of factor intercorrelations suggests that the RIG/T is tapping at least two separate aspects of marital decision-making: the degree to which a person actively impedes the spouse's activity and the extent to which conflict is characteristic of a couple as they negotiate. It is concluded that the RIG/T, as currently constituted, may not be discriminating enough a simulation problem presented to dyads.     

Training Bartenders as Helpers on a College Campus

Student bartenders working in a college rathskeller are portrayed as “gatekeepers”: individuals at a strategic point of contact between mental health professionals and people in need of such service. This article describes a training program that sought to enhance the skills necessary to perform a variety of gatekeeping functions. The program, which took the form of a one-day workshop, included six major segments. The authors suggest that such a workshop is a potentially useful preventive mental health program for a college campus.     

Values and Counselors 1968–1978: Stability or Change?

The signs of the times of the 1960s seem very different from those of the 1970s, as different popular movements emphasized different values. Yet there is doubt about the change in values of specific professional groups. In this study students in counselor education at one university were compared regarding values—one group in 1968 and another group in 1978—using the Rokeach Value Survey. Katz and Beech indicate the likenesses and differences in values between the two groups and analyze similarities and dissimilarities of the future counselors with the general population during the 1960s and 1970s.     

POPULISM AND ELITISM IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT

African-American political thought finds its premises in European philosophical traditions. But these traditions often challenge African-American humanity which African-American political thought defends. African-American political thought is therefore an extended commentary on the consistency of European philosophical traditions.     

WHAT IS PURE,WHAT IS GOOD? DISINTERESTEDNESS IN FÉNELON AND KANT

Two philosophers, Robert Spaemann and Henri Gouhier, have identified a similarity between Fénelon and Kant in the prominence of motive in their thought: disinterestedness in Fénelon's pure love and in Kant's good will . Spaemann emphasizes their common detaching of the ethical in terms of motivation from the context of happiness. In this article I explore further similarities and differences under the topics of perfectionism, pure love, good will, happiness, and disinterestedness, as these are pertinent to their thought. On perfectionism there appears a stark contrast; on pure love over against good will, on happiness, and on disinterestedness, however, there seems a balance between likenesses and differences. Finally I point out a qualification set on pure love by Fénelon and on the good will by Kant.