In his Introduction to Value Theory N. Rescher suggests a procedure by which individual valuations can be combined to yield meaningful and accurate social valuation measures. A social valuation is the effective average m* of individual valuations, such that: $$m^ * = m - \tfrac{1}{2}\sigma $$ , where m is the mean of individual valuations and σ the standard deviation of individual valuations from m. Rescher's employment of this concept of effective average has the following unacceptable features: (1) the effective average is undefined for the situation by which Rescher chooses to introduce the concept; (2) negative effective averages, which are calculable for many situations, are given no interpretation by Rescher; (3) some effective averages are lower than each individual valuation which figures in their computation, and as a consequence use of the concept of effective average to pinpoint social valuations favors conformity of individual valuations to an unjustifiable extent.