A Cross-Sectional Examination of International Competency Standards

The evaluation of competency in the field of psychology has gained international attention in recent years. Focusing on international competencies can promote high standards of care and identify common values of the profession. However, there is little research regarding international perceptions of competency. Examining ethics codes from different countries can highlight international standards of competent practice, as ethics codes outline professional expectations of the field. The current study compared the ethics standards found in 47 codes of ethics representing 51 countries. Seventeen competency standards emerged after ethics codes were analyzed. Implications for the international practice of psychology are discussed.     

Eyes on the prize: The longitudinal benefits of goal focus on progress toward a weight loss goal

Past research suggests that focusing on what has not yet been accomplished (goal focus) signals a lack of progress towards one's high commitment goals and inspires greater motivation than does focusing on what has already been accomplished (accomplishment focus). The present investigation extends this research to a longitudinal, important domain by exploring the consequences of focusing on one's goals versus accomplishments when pursuing a weight loss goal. Participants were tracked over the course of a 12-week weight loss program that utilized weekly group discussions and a companion website to direct participants' focus toward their end weight loss goal or toward what they had already achieved. Goal-focused participants reported higher levels of commitment to their goal and, ultimately, lost more weight than did accomplishment-focused and no focus control participants. Accomplishment-focused participants did not differ from controls on any measure.     

A resource on behavioral terminology: an annotated bibliography of on terms articles in the behavior analyst

An annotated bibliography that summarizes the On Terms articles on behavior-analytic terminology from The Behavior Analyst is provided. Thirty-five articles published between 1979 and 2010 were identified, annotated, and classified using common behavior analysis course-content frameworks.     

器官移植准入制度迫在眉睫

器官移植在我国正在迅速、蓬勃发展。但是在各种利益的驱使下,我国的器官移植出现严重偏差。一些不具备技术实力的医院违反原则地盲目上马该项目。使国内器官移植生存率与国际相比有相当大差距,并在经济上及器官来源等各方面都造成了巨大浪费。因此,我国亟需配套与器官移植有关的各种法律、法规出台,以规范目前的混乱状况,提高我国器官移植质量。     

Use of absolute and comparative performance feedback in absolute and comparative judgments and decisions

Which matters more—beliefs about absolute ability or ability relative to others? This study set out to compare the effects of such beliefs on satisfaction with performance, self-evaluations, and bets on future performance. In Experiment 1, undergraduate participants were told they had answered 20% correct, 80% correct, or were not given their scores on a practice test. Orthogonal to this manipulation, participants learned that their performance placed them in the 23rd percentile or 77th percentile, or they did not receive comparative feedback. Participants were then given a chance to place bets on two games—one in which they needed to get more than 50% right to double their money (absolute bet), and one in which they needed to beat more than 50% of other test-takers (comparative bet). Absolute feedback influenced comparative betting, particularly when no comparative feedback was available. Comparative feedback exerted weaker and inconsistent effects on absolute bets. Absolute feedback also had stronger (and more consistent) effects on satisfaction with performance and state self-esteem. Experiment 2 replicated these effects in a different university sample, and demonstrated that the effects emerge even when bets are placed after participants rate their satisfaction with their performance (although these ratings do not mediate the effect of feedback on bets). These findings suggest that information about one’s absolute standing on a dimension may be more influential than information about comparative standing, partially supporting a key tenet of Festinger’s [Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.] theory of social comparison.     

Hiring you makes me look bad: Social-identity based reversals of the ingroup favoritism effect

The current research attempts to explain reversals of ingroup favoritism in terms of one of the prevalent mechanisms generally used to account for positive ingroup bias: Tajfel’s social identity theory. We propose that individuals strategically evaluate ingroup targets in order to maximize their own self-esteem and to avoid costly errors. This strategic evaluation typically results in ingroup favoritism toward an ingroup target member. However, if a positive evaluation of the target poses a significant self-esteem threat, denigration of the target will result. Two studies examined how ingroup and outgroup targets were evaluated when applicants were qualified versus unqualified (Study 1), or when the ingroup target might confirm a negative ingroup stereotype (Study 2). Study 1 results indicated that participants showed ingroup favoritism only toward qualified applicants. Study 2 demonstrated that, when a marginally qualified ingroup applicant has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype, bias against the ingroup is observed. Results of both studies both confirm and provide explanations for ingroup denigration.     

The Buck Stops here: Why Universities Must Reclaim Business Ethics Education

Given the groundswell of corporate misconduct, the need for better business ethics education seems obvious. Yet many business schools continue to sidestep this responsibility, a policy tacitly approved by their accrediting agency, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). Some schools have even gone so far as to cut ethics courses in the wake of corporate scandals. In this essay I discuss some reasons for this failure of business school responsibility and argue that top university officials must go beyond weak accrediting standards to insist that ethics courses be required in business school curriculum. Otherwise, students will continue to get the message that practicing managers have little or no legal and ethical responsibilities to society.     

美、加、澳大学心理咨询中心的鉴定标准及启示

该文介绍了国际心理咨询服务协会目前在美国、加拿大和澳大利亚所推行的大学心理咨询中心鉴定标准。该鉴定标准主要涉及心理咨询中心与大学社区的关系、心理咨询的作用和功能、心理咨询中心应遵循的伦理规范、心理咨询中心服务人员的资格与职责以及其它相关的指导原则。作者据此提出了对我国高校心理咨询工作的建议。     

Responsible engineering: Gilbane Gold revisited

This paper addresses several concerns in teaching engineering ethics. First, there is the problem of finding space within already crowded engineering curricula for meaningful discussions of ethical dimensions in engineering. Some engineering programs may offer entire courses on engineering ethics; however, most do not at present and may not in the foreseeable future. A promising possibility is to weave ethics into already existing courses using case studies, but most current case studies are not well integrated with engineering technical analysis. There is a danger that case studies will be viewed by both instructors and students as departures from “business as usual”—interesting perhaps, but not essentially connected with “real” engineering. We offer a case study, inspired by the National Society of Professional Engineer’s popular video Gilbane Gold, that can be used to make the connection. It requires students to engage in technical analysis, but in a context that makes apparent the ethical responsibility of engineers. Further, the case we present marks a significant departure from more typical cases that primarily focus on wrongdoing and its prevention. We concentrate more positively on what responsible engineering requires. There is a need for more such cases, regardless of whether they are to be used in standard engineering courses or in separate courses in engineering ethics. This article is the product of the NSF/Bovay Endowment “Workshop to Develop Numerical Problems Associated With Ethics Cases for use in Required Undergraduate Engineering Courses” (NSF Grant DUE-9455141) held at Texas A&M University in August 1995. For further information about this project, contact Michael J. Rabins, Director of the Ethics and Professionalism Program in the Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. Additional case studies from this workshop are available on the Internet site http://ethics.tamu.edu. The writing of this article was supported in part by “Engineering Ethics: Good Works” (NSF/EVS Grant SBR-930257). Michael Pritchard teaches ethics and is co-author of Engineering Ethics: Concepts and Cases (1995) with C.E. Harris and Michael Rabins (Wadsworth, Belmont CA). Mark Holtzapple teaches chemical engineering and is author of Foundations of Engineering (McGraw-Hill) which includes an ethics chapter suitable for freshman engineering students.