A call for a statement of expectations for the global information infrastructure

This paper considers the relationship between ethics, technology and law, and the roles and limitations each has in this relationship. It argues that ethics has the key role in establishing a resilient, comprehensive and sensitive information infrastructure. It puts forward a Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for the electronic community.

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The computer revolution and the problem of global ethics

The author agrees with James Moor that computer technology, because it is ‘logically malleable’, is bringing about a genuine social revolution. Moor compares the computer revolution to the ‘industrial revolution’ of the late 18th and the 19th centuries; but it is argued here that a better comparison is with the ‘printing press revolution’ that occurred two centuries before that. Just as the major ethical theories of Bentham and Kant were developed in response to the printing press revolution, so a new ethical theory is likely to emerge from computer ethics in response to the computer revolution. The newly emerging field of information ethics, therefore, is much more important than even its founders and advocates believe.     

The name change debate: Ellis's real agenda

In this brief note, I reveal for the first time Albert Ellis's real agenda for recently changing the name from Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Editor's Note: The phones continue to ring hot at our editorial offices and we've had to put on several new staff to handle the volume of mail concerning Albert Ellis's controversial decision to change the name of rational-emotive therapy to rational emotive behavior therapy. The following pieces are three of the many that we have received concerning the real motivations of Ellis for changing the name as well as the logic and rationale for including the B in REBT.     

Law,professional practice,and professional organizations: Where do we go from here?

The ethical dilemmas presented to the practicing school psychologist by the plethora of laws that dictate procedures, policies, and instrumentation are discussed. The function of professional organizations, both national and state, is described as (a) anticipating legislation, (b) developing political impact, (c) affecting existing laws, and (d) affecting proposed legislation. Coordination of efforts among various groups and development of political expertise is urged as a way to approach issues of concern to both psychologists and their clients.     

Criterion-referenced and norm-referenced assessment of minority group children

A variety of problems have been experienced with psychological assessment of minority children. Traditional norm-referenced measurement has repeatedly received criticism concerning cultural unfairness or bias. Responses to such accusations primarily have been in the form of new instrumentation aimed at attaining a culture fair assessment. Little response has been evident from a conceptual standpoint addressing the issues of purpose and use of test results Although many have turned to criterion-referenced measurement as an answer to the problems of norm-referenced evaluation, cultural bias is not necessarily avoided in this framework either. Issues of who determines criteria and what those criteria include must be addressed if criterion-referenced measurement is to meet adequately the challenge of multicultural evaluation.     

The disadvantaged as a social and professional phenomenon

Being culturally disadvantaged is a social condition which is created, managed, and maintained by both social and professional institutions. When institutions attempt to sustain societal norms by selecting certain attributes and calling them desirable, these institutions are relegating large segments of the population to a deviant status if it does not share these attributes. The “culturally disadvantaged” are such a group. This phenomenon not only results in differential perceptions and expectations, but also influences their self-evaluation, academic success, and career opportunities. The transformation of deviance into incompetency has also led to formally sanctioned methods of managing deviancy. Methods, such as compensatory education, ability grouping, and special class placement can be viewed as maintaining the position that the culturally disadvantaged are indeed deviant and incompetent.     

The preventive and therapeutic effects of two school mental health programs

In 30 classrooms randomly assigned to experimental conditions, effects on mothers' reports of behavior symptoms were compared for (a) a parent education program; (b) an in-school program of consultation, counseling, training, and referral; and (c) control classrooms. A sample of 426 families were followed for 30 months from the child's entry into third grade. A simple unweighted count of the number of symptoms reported in a home interview had adequate validity, good reliability, low reactivity, and intrinsic significance. Both programs had significant preventive and therapeutic effects on boys but not on girls. Effects were immediate in the upper middle class families, delayed in the lower class families.The larger study on which this article is based was initiated some years ago by Professor Glidewell and his colleagues, and represents a pioneering research effort in the field of community psychology. The present article was prepared by the authors in response to an invitation from the Editor to report important and still timely aspects of the original study that were not previously published in archival sources. We are grateful to Professor Glidewell and his colleagues for giving us this opportunity to make their findings more generally available to community psychology researchers.This work was supported by research grant M-592 from the National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Public Health Service, and the St. Louis County Health Department.     

Teaching directional skills to preschool and kindergarten children

Studied a new device and training procedure for teaching the directional orientation and sentence tracking skills used in reading and writing western languages. Twelve preschool and 14 kindergarten children were randomly assigned to E and C groups. Between pre- and posttests, Es practiced for a total of 20 min. over a two-week period with an electronic device which flashed a correct signal only when S scribed left-to-right through successive sentences from top to bottom of the display. Any error in sequence extinguished the signal. Cs received only pre- and posttests. On test sentences prior to practice neither Es nor Cs were able to show where the sentences began or how they went from beginning to end. After using the device, Es tripled their orientation and tracking scores, while Cs not given access to the device did not improve (p < .002). Left-right and up-down directional confusion, often the subject of many hours of remedial training, were shown to be rapidly corrected in normal children by the use of a simple electronic device providing clear feedback distinguishing correct from incorrect responses. Implications for prereading instruction are discussed.     

Is the holocaust relevant to sociobiology?

Sociobiologists have emphasized that altruism and benevolent behavior are part of the genetic repertoire of most animals and certainly of man. They have constructed a theory of ethics as a biological phenomenon without reference to the concept of evil. It is concluded here however, that holocaust behavior is not equivalent to the natural manifestation of an incompletely tamed animal flashing its teeth. Biologists have been too rigid in trying to equate ethical behavior with social behavior. The added dimension of ethical behavior is a special kind of sensitivity to the needs of others, just as evil is the total lack of it. The evolution of this moral sense may itself have important selective value for the human species, whose survival depends on creating maximal diversity in its gene pool.