To determine whether or not counselors are demonstrably different from noncounselors in terms of empathy, the concept of empathy was translated into an operational variable consisting of an affective (tonal) component and a cognitive (perceptual) component. Some 11 items judged as affect-laden by two rater groups were selected from the Squires…

Empathy and stereotype accuracy of rehabilitation counselors attempting to preduct client responses on a problem inventory were studied. Results showed that all subject groups, pre-counselor through experienced counselor, with and without master's degrees, were able to make empathic and stereotype predictions at a level significantly better than…

Relationship between the therapist personality variables of empathy and authoritarianism and the prognosis that a therapist makes was investigated using 25 PhD psychologists as subjects. A positive relationship was found between therapist empathy and the prognosis variables dealing with perception of degree of disturbance and overall prognosis.…

This study of counselor trainee behavior during actual counseling sessions is an investigation of the associations between high and low levels of counselor anxiety and the following kinds of counselor responses; empathy, structuring, interrogation and "activity not relevant to the task of counseling." Subjects, two male and three female…

Validity of the Self-Disclosure Questionnaire as a measure of counselor effectiveness was investigated. Overall, results failed to support both the concurrent and predictive validity of the SDQ. The behavioral measure of actual self-disclosure was highly correlated with one of the empathy measures. (Author)

Authors hypothesized client's self-perception of improvement in therapy is partially a function of situational cues in contrast to internal mechanisms. Undergraduate Ss (N=65) self-disclosed on a problem for 10 minutes and were then assigned to one of four "interpersonal cue" conditions, or to a "discharge cue" condition. (Author)

A trait measure of empathy, a skill measure of empathy and an attitude scale on psychological effectiveness were administered to both counselor trainees and "natural helpers", i.e. persons in helping relationships who have not been formally trained as mental health professionals or paraprofessionals. The results indicated that the…

The preferences of 320 undergraduate students for one of three disabled counselors or for a nondisabled counselor on each of Brabham and Thoreson's 20 hypothetical counseling situations were obtained. Significant counselor preferences existed for 18 of the 20 situations, and when categorized by sex, significant counselor preferences existed for 4…

Three types of correlations were used to examine interrelationships of scales for therapist empathy, warmth, genuineness, self-disclosure, and immediacy. Immediacy and self-disclosure were not significantly related to empathy and warmth for high-facilitative therapists. Results suggest use of all facilitative scales is best justified when ongoing…

Previous research has shown that counselor warmth, empathy, and genuineness facilitate client growth. One explanation suggests that these qualities facilitate client discharge of emotion. Another explanation emphasizes the sense of understanding and sharing with the counselor. The current study has Ss self-disclose on a mild personal problem to a…

Functioning level of 25 counselor trainees was assessed by clients responding to the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, by judges using Carkhuff rating scales, and by counselor responses to a criterion instrument, Human Empathic Listening Test. The subparts and total scores were correlated to examine the relationship among the three measuring…

The results indicate that (a) the more complex counselors expressed a significantly higher level of empathy, and (b) the level of empathy manifested is conditioned by a significant interaction effect between type of counselor and client. (Author)

Subjects' attraction to the counselor, self-reported and physiological anxiety, and susceptibility to persuasion were compared using two types of counseling analogues, quasi-counseling and vicarious-participation. Participants in the quasi-counseling analogue were significantly more attracted to the counselor than were vicarious-participation…

Investigates effects of sex of judge, sex of referent, and sex-pairing of judge and referent on level of understanding, or affective sensitivity, of school counselors. Male and female counselors were found to be equally accurate in their empathic judgments. There were no detected effects of sex-pairing. (Author)