Rights-talk Will Not Sort Out Child-abuse: comment on Archard on parental rights

ABSTRACT  Argument about Rights can be either purely formal or substantial—meant to affect conduct. These two functions, which need different kinds of support, often become confused. The source of much confusion is the idea that rights-language is an all-purpose 'moral theory' which is in competition with others such as Utilitarianism. Since these are not really rivals but complementary aspects of moral thinking—parts of it, both of which need to be used along with many others—attempts to establish one of them as sole ruler are doomed to incoherence. The ambition to deploy an all-purpose thought-system is distinct from the moral motivation to change the world, and the two aims inevitably interfere with one another. Among these 'moral theories', however, the language of rights is specially ill-suited for all-purpose use. This becomes plain when philosophers, taking its adequacy for granted, conduct moral argument in terms of it alone, as if it were obviously appropriate, without background discussion. Rights-language is of particularly limited use because it is simply the most competitive and litigious of such thought-systems. Its win-or-lose formula allows no more scope for doing justice to defeated claims than a lawcourt does. For the serious conflicts of value that underlie large moral problems, this is disastrous.     

PERSONALITY MEASURES AND BIODATA: EVIDENCE REGARDING THEIR INCREMENTAL PREDICTIVE VALUE IN THE LIFE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

This study examines the extent to which a theoretically based set of personality measures can add incremental validity to an existing biodata instrument in terms of predicting both traditional (task) and expanded (contextual) dimensions of performance in the life insurance industry. Four of the Big Five measures of personality predicted contextual performance while just the Extraversion scale predicted task performance. This study demonstrates that personality measures can provide significant incremental prediction of contextual performance over biodata, and vice versa.     

Reported Practices of Creative Problem Solving Facilitators

This study reviews the distinguishing characteristics of successful creative problem solving (CPS) facilitators and provides advice on ways to develop these characteristics. Thirty-seven facilitators were interviewed about their successful use of creative problem solving. These individuals include full-time employees of organizations as well as consultants that were hired by a variety of organizations. The data colleced contained self-reports of effectiveness. No attempt was made to verify the facilitators claims of “success” in facilitation. From the interviews, the characteristics were identified and categorized by logical analysis. These findings were then researched in the literature. The final product was organized around the acronym FACILITATOR. Several synonyms were used to describe characteristics, but the content was not changed for the sake of organization.     

Health Beliefs,Religious Values,and the Counseling Process: A Comparison of Counselors and Other Mental Health Professionals

A. E. Bergin (1985) studied the religious values and beliefs of mental health professionals and the relationship of those values to the counseling process. This study replicated Bergin's research with a sample of professional counselors. Differences were found in each of 10 beliefs areas and 10 values areas between the total sample in both studies. Within-group differences revealed greater similarities between professional counselors and social workers and marriage and family therapists and greater differences between counselors and either psychologists or psychiatrists. Implications for counseling and counselor training are discussed.