Am I the fifth horseman of the apocalypse? Comment on Galassi, Crace, Martin, James, and Wallace (1992) and comments on research concerning expectations about counseling.

The criticisms by J. P. Galassi et al (see record 1992-17938-001) of H. E. Tinsley and B. L. Benton (1978) and the Expectations About Counseling instrument are shown to be unfounded, problems with the terminology of Galassi et al are discussed, and the technical adequacy and findings of Galassi et al are analyzed. Problems that have occurred frequently in research on expectations about counseling are attributed to lack of programmatic research, failure to critically analyze existing literature, and use of instruments designed for a single study. The devotion of too much attention to "let's change a word" and "let's change a demographic variable" research is criticized. More effort is called for (1) to identify and measure theoretically relevant expectations, (2) to examine the relations between expectations and related constructs, (3) to determine how expectations can be modified, and (4) to investigate the relation of expectations to aspects of the counseling process and outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)