Arousing and processing primary vulnerable emotions is a core change mechanism across a wide range of psychotherapies and clinical populations. This study examined the utility of 2 emotion-focused interventions--relational reframes and empty-chair enactments--in terms of arousing primary sadness associated with loss and longing among individuals…

This longitudinal investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites, which refer to the consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. We examined how White students' affective costs of racism (i.e., White empathy, guilt, and fear) changed…

The authors investigated the effects of a brief video intervention on the racial attitudes of White university students. One hundred thirty-eight self-identified White students were randomly assigned to either an experimental condition in which they viewed a video documenting the pervasiveness of institutional racism and White privilege in the…

This investigation adds to the growing body of scholarship on the psychosocial costs of racism to Whites (PCRW), which refer to consequences of being in the dominant position in an unjust, hierarchical system of societal racism. Extending research that identified 5 distinct constellations of costs of racism (L. B. Spanierman, V. P. Poteat, A. M.…

The authors examined outcomes and predictors of outcomes for 85 undergraduates in 3 helping skills classes. After training, trainees used more exploration skills in helping sessions with classmates (as assessed by perceptions of helpees and helpers/trainees as well as behavioral counts of skills), were perceived by helpees as more empathic, talked…

This study suggests that training programs which seek to train their students on the facilitative conditions can improve their selection procedures by employing a training analogue. Psychologically, the analogue method mitigates the effect of the varying levels of naivete among the prospective trainees. (Author)

In 2 interrelated investigations, the authors examined the extent to which affect, as measured by the Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites scale (PCRW; L. B. Spanierman & M. J. Heppner, 2004), would predict various dimensions of multicultural counseling competence (MCC). In Study 1, structural equation modeling was used to test a mediating model…

Three supervisors had six trainees in each of four groups: modeling-didactic supervision, no-modeling-didactic supervision, modeling-experiential supervision, no-modeling-experiential supervision. Two groups of 12 each received no supervision: modeling-controls and no-modeling controls. Subject responses to recorded client statements indicated…

A supervision analogue was used to determine whether counselor trainees' preference for supervision method affects the outcome of supervision. An analysis of empathy ratings indicated that learning empathy was not contingent upon receiving the preferred supervision. Type of supervision received and interaction effect between supervisor and…

Tested an algorithm for directing novice counselors in making empathic responses. The independent variable was assessed using a computer simulation program. The second experiment employed a completely randomized design. In another, the algorithm was modified and a randomized block design employed. Experimental groups performed significantly…

Results showed that the two-chair dialog applied at a split produced more depth of experiencing than did focusing plus emphatic reflection. Both treatments produced significantly greater reported shifts in awareness and progress than the no-treatment controls. (Author)

Investigated a category system of emotion words used in training beginning counselors to respond appropriately to client emotions. Experienced counselors, counselors in training, and noncounselors performed a free sort of 45 emotion words. The categories used by each subject group were more similar to each other than to the hypothesized…

Empathic sensitivity did increase after completion of the course and increased over time to a level comparable with a normative group of experienced clinicians. Mortality and selection effects were minimal. No significant relationship emerged between verbal intelligence and empathic sensitivity. (Author)

Investigates the ability of volunteer telephone services to furnish facilitative conditions to callers by determining the level of empathic understanding offered by such volunteers. Uses Carkhuff's Five-Point Empathy Scale to indicate that the length of calls increases as the level of empathic understanding offered rises. (Author/PC)

This study compared two sets of ratings made under different experimental conditions with each other and with a predefined criterion of accuracy. The data indicated that informed raters were significantly more accurate in their ratings than noninformed raters and significant discrepancies occurred at the higher scale points of the Accurate Empathy…