Some Appraised Instruments of Values for Counselors

The article by Kavanagh reviews several instruments that have been available for some time but perhaps neglected by counselors. Analyzing strengths and weaknesses of these items, he concludes that their judicious use can help toward the upgrading of counseling effectiveness. Clark Power 's addendum introduces what could be called the forefront of values assessment. He looks at the varied values needs of the counselor and researcher and offers information about material that is still being researched or has recently become available.     

The Negotiation of Values in Therapy

Values are integral to all social systemic operations and therefore to the heart of the therapeutic process. For the therapist, values are an essential component in defining and assessing a problem, determining goals, and selecting therapeutic strategy. Therapists do not have a choice about whether they need to deal with values in therapy, only about how well. The training of therapists about their values needs to be integrated with the training about their own emotional and family issues. This training should be carried out in the context of treating families and have as its primary focus the relationship of the therapists' personal issues to the conduct of their therapy with families. Personal insight and mastery over handling their own values and family issues will maximize therapeutic effectiveness.     

Educational Equality versus Educational Adequacy: A Critique of Anderson and Satz

Some theorists argue that rather than advocating a principle of educational equality as a component of a theory of justice in education, egalitarians should adopt a principle of educational adequacy. This paper looks at two recent attempts to show that adequacy, not equality, constitutes justice in education. It responds to the criticisms of equality by claiming that they are either unsuccessful or merely show that other values are also important, not that equality is not important. It also argues that a principle of educational adequacy cannot be all there is to justice in education.     

WILLIAM HAZLITT,OBSESSIVE LOVE,AND LIBER AMORIS

William Hazlitt, a distinguished literary figure of the early nineteenth century and a forerunner of psychoanalytic insights, had a keen awareness of the impact of the imagination on assessing works of art. At forty‐two, he became hopelessly involved in an obsessive love affair with a nineteen‐year‐old woman and could not extricate himself from the relationship. The affair followed the death of his father, a powerful influence on his life. Factors in his obsessive love included finding an object of idealization subject to his imaginative creation and narcissistically reexperiencing himself about to begin a new life.     

THE FATE OF INDEPENDENT THOUGHT IN TRADITIONAL CHINA

China, like a huge dragon, gobbles all in its path. Like a huge vat, dyes all the same color. Sun Jingxuan, A Spector Prowls Our Land (1980)     

Sexual similarity,complementarity, accuracy,and overperception in same‐sex couples

We examined whether similarity, complementarity, accuracy, and positive illusions exist within the sex lives of same‐sex romantic couples. Partners had similar and complementary sexual desires and they perceived each other's desires with considerable accuracy; these effects were greater than in randomly matched pseudocouples. As evidence of positive sexual illusions, people overperceived sexual similarity and complementarity, and they overperceived the accuracy with which their partner knew their desires. Using actor–partner interdependence models (D. A. Kenny, D. A. Kashy, & W. L. Cook, 2006), similarity, complementarity, and positive illusions predicted sexual satisfaction, but a partner's actual accuracy did not. In parallel with earlier findings from heterosexual couples, this work indicates that positive sexual illusions are motivated cognitive processes that benefit sexual satisfaction, as theories of relationship maintenance suggest.     

The importance of seeing what is not there: A quasi‐signal detection analysis of positive and negative behavior in newlywed couples

Partners scrutinize each other's behaviors to identify the quality of their relationship. Because people's perception of their partners' behavior is imperfect, they face a signal detection problem for which there are 4 outcomes: hits, misses, false alarms, and correct rejections. Research confirms the importance of hits, misses, and false alarms for relationship quality, but nothing is known about correct rejections. In a prospective study among newlywed couples, it was predicted and found that people are good at detecting the absence of partner behavior, especially negative partner behavior, and that these correct rejections are important for relationship quality above and beyond hits. Happy partners see reality in a way that maintains their happiness, which includes seeing what is not there.     

Prestige and Social Standing of Growth Occupations, 1982–1995

This study helped to determine whether applicants for assistance from the state employment office view fast- and large-growth occupations with a hierarchy similar to that cited in the professional literature. Findings revealed that professions were in the top ranks, skilled and crafts occupations in the middle ranks, and service-oriented occupations in the low ranks. Growth occupation information did not seem to influence or affect job applicants' ratings.     

"If I Don''t Get Simple, I Cry"

Poor families have taught us special lessons that are applicable to all families. They have instructed us about the problems, within families, of developing relationships adequate to the tasks of family life. One consequence is that therapists are attending more to the evolution of the structure of family relationships, particularly, the phenomenon of underorganization. Poor families have also provided insight into the dynamic relationship between families and their social context. As a result, a therapeutic perspective is emerging that focuses on the influence of the community on the individual and the family, a perspective that may be called an eco-structural approach to therapy.