Counseling interactions as a function of spatial-environmental conditions.

Investigated the effects of interpersonal distance, intensity of lighting, and time on counselor communication of affective and cognitive self-disclosure. Excerpts from initial sessions conducted by 18 counselors-in-training with 54 clients were randomly selected and rated. Results indicate significant effects of Distance on counselor concreteness and of Lighting on counselor communication of cognitive sets in the last third of the interviews. Additionally, Distance had a significant effect on counselee affective self-disclosure in the 2nd third of the interviews. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling effectiveness as a function of counselor social interest.

Examined the relationship between counselor social interest and 3 dimensions of counseling effectiveness. 99 students and 8 counselors at a university counseling center participated, and data were analyzed using a multivariate trend analysis. Measures included the Early Recollection Questionnaire, the Rating Scale of Social Interest Characteristics, and the Counseling Evaluation Inventory. Results show that the counselor's social interest score was significantly related to the client's scores on satisfaction, self-acceptance, and sociability. Experimental support was obtained for one of the major contributions of Adlerian theory, the concept of social interest. Implications of the findings for successful counseling outcomes are discussed. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling expectations as a function of fee for service.

Two studies investigated the hypothesis that counseling on a fee-for-service basis might affect client evaluation of counseling, client motivation to change, and client willingness to seek help. In Study 1, 80 male and 80 female undergraduates completed a questionnaire, which required Ss to estimate the probability of their using university counseling-center services for varied concerns, and an expectations-about-counseling questionnaire. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions representing fee structures: no fee, a modest fee ($5), a modest fee but knowing others pay more for the same services, and a substantial fee ($25). Results show that fee condition did not affect willingness to seek help or counseling expectancies. Although there were some differences between sexes on expectancies, there was no interaction effect for sex and fee condition. In Study 2, 12 male and 31 female 15–54 yr old former clients of a psychology clinic were asked to compare satisfaction under no-fee and fee ($5 and $25) conditions. Again, fees did not affect Ss' evaluations of, expectations for, or willingness to seek counseling. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling priorities as a function of survey instructions and sex of respondent.

I constructed two surveys that were identical in counseling needs assessed but different in whether students were asked to assess their own counseling needs or those of students in general. Both surveys were administered in counterbalanced order to 293 university students. There was a high positive correlation between the counseling priorities indicated by the two surveys (rs?=?.80, p?     

Division of Counseling Psychology, Committee on Definition. Counseling psychology as a specialty.

"Although counseling psychology leaves to other psychologists the major responsibility for treating psychological disasters, the counseling psychologist may be found working in the full range of social settings. He has unique resources, e.g., tests and other methods of psychological evaluation, for helping individuals to achieve harmonious relationships with their environments. He is willing to work directly with other persons and groups with whom his clients must deal outside of the counseling office. His goal is to further the fullest possible self-realization of those who live in a particular social setting." 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Troubles in modeling the counselor's model.

Suggests that problems of logic in the model formulation of counselor judgment and in subsequent use of path analysis attenuated a meaningful interpretation of results reported in the article by D. Strohmer et al (see record 1983-11141-001). The inclusion of data from both observations and inferences in the prediction of estimates of client progress creates a logical contrary. Moreover, unusually high R–2s in the path analysis are seen to result from the authors' use of only 8 observations. These and other technical problems suggest that simpler methods of data analysis should have been applied. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling as a social influence process: A review.

Conceptualizing counseling as an instance of social influence has led several authors to suggest that factors such as credibility and interpersonal attraction, extensively researched by social psychologists, may be of importance in understanding counseling and other therapeutic relationships. These suggestions, and especially the article by S. R. Strong (1968), have stimulated a great deal of research. That research and relevant, related research is reviewed with the intent of offering suggestions for future study and for considering the following questions: Do counselors influence clients? What cues do clients use to infer expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness in their counselors? Is it useful to consider counseling as a social influence process? (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client perceptions of the therapeutic relationship as a function of client and counselor age.

32 women pseudoclients from each of 2 age groups (25–35 and 60–70 yrs) met with a woman crisis counselor from 1 of the 2 age groups for a 50-min face-to-face interview. Results suggest that age of clients and counselors did not exert a significant influence on clients' perceptions of counselor facilitative skills (e.g., empathy, congruence, regard) or client satisfaction with the therapeutic interview. Age similarity between the client and counselor did not necessarily improve the working alliance. Clients of a specific age group view some counselors of a particular age as more facilitative and empathic than other counselors of that same age. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy as a professional relationship.

One explanation offered for the successes found in every system of psychotherapy is that there is in common a cordial therapist–client relationship. Moreover, because the therapist is trained in dealing with psychological problems, some have held that the therapist is a superior, more effective friend whose skills, particularly in empathic communication, might well be fostered in the general population. The research has not supported these assertions when therapists of many different orientations are compared or when the results of nonprofessional helpers are compared with those of professional psychotherapists. An analysis of the structures of informal and professional relationships demonstrates that they have quite distinctive properties. Specific advantages and disadvantages of professional and nonprofessional relationships are noted. It may be equally appropriate to attend to their differences as well as to their similarities and to consider those who may be helped only by professional interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in visual self-recognition as a function of mother–infant attachment relationship.

Investigated whether individual differences in visual self-recognition are related to infants' early social relations by comparing 37 infants' attachment relationships at 12 mo of age to their visual self-recognition at both 18 and 24 mo of age. Infants and their mothers were observed in a modified strange-situation procedure (M. D. Ainsworth et al, 1978) when the infants were 12 mo old. Infants were seen again at 18 and 24 mo of age in the standard mirror-recognition procedure. Consistent with previous studies, self-recognition behavior increased from 18 to 24 mo of age. Individual differences in early attachment relations were related to later self-recognition. In particular, insecurely attached infants showed a trend toward earlier self-recognition than did securely attached infants. Results are discussed in terms of the relation between attachment and individuation. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of client preferences and counselor's physical disability.

Investigated the effects on a client of a counselor's obvious physical disability. In a counseling analog, 24 able-bodied and 24 physically handicapped male undergraduates were shown 3 slides-a counselor in a wheelchair, a counselor with crutches, and a counselor with no apparent physical disability. Ss were asked to respond to a series of hypothetical counseling situations. Results suggest that both able-bodied and disabled Ss preferred disabled counselors for discussing personal problems. Able-bodied Ss who appeared most maladjusted tended to reject the disabled counselor. Implications for counselor selection and job assignment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women's self-confidence in achievement settings.

Previous reviewers have suggested that women display lower self-confidence than men across almost all achievement situations. The empirical validity of this suggestion is assessed. The literature indicates that although low self-confidence is indeed a frequent and potentially debilitating problem among women, they are not lower in self-confidence than men in all achievement situations. Instead, it is argued that the nature of this sex difference depends upon such situation variables as the specific ability area, the availability of performance feedback, and the emphasis placed upon social comparison or evaluation. It is concluded that future research must more precisely identify the variables that influence women's self-confidence. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between overt and fantasy aggression as a function of maternal response to aggression.

44 boys and their mothers were studied in order to explore the relationship between fantasy and overt expressions of aggression as a function of maternal attitudes and practices towards aggression. "Support was found for the hypothesis that under conditions of maternal encouragement of aggression, a greater degree of correspondence exists between fantasy and overt aggression of children than under conditions of maternal discouragement of aggression." 19 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prejudice as a function of self-organization.

This article reviewed the traditional psychoanalytic theories of the development and maintenance of prejudiced attitudes and affects. To this body of understanding, the authors offered a self psychological perspective. They described the treatment of Sandy, a woman who presented with extreme expressions of prejudice, to illustrate how self psychology provides a framework for understanding the narcissistic roots of her prejudice and a therapeutic stance for promoting the transformation of her prejudiced attitudes and affects. From this perspective, prejudice is understood not as the displacement or projection of aggression, but as an expression of a vulnerable, fragmentation-prone self-organization struggling to overcome a traumatic developmental history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Displacement as a function of conflict.

"Miller's theory of displacement was extended by integration with his conflict theory into a three-dimensional model… . To test deductions from this model rats were first trained to get food at one end of an alley and then shocked while eating until they no longer approached the food cup. They then left this alley and entered other alleys differing slightly from the original alley. Here they went closer to the food end than in the original alley. Tracings of their movements followed a pattern predicted from the model… . After making goal responses in the generalized alleys, the rats returned to eat in the original alley, showing a 'therapeutic' effect." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The anxiety-buffering function of close relationships: Evidence that relationship commitment acts as a terror management mechanism.

Three studies examined the terror management function of romantic commitment. In Study 1 (N=94), making mortality salient led to higher reports of romantic commitment on the Dimensions of Commitment Inventory (J. M. Adams & W. H. Jones, 1997) than control conditions. In Study 2 (N=60), the contextual salience of thoughts about romantic commitment reduced the effects of mortality salience on judgments of social transgressions. In Study 3 (N=100), the induction of thoughts about problems in romantic relationships led to higher accessibility of death-related thoughts than did the induction of thoughts about either academic problems or a neutral theme. The findings expand terror management theory, emphasizing the anxiety-buffering function of close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematics achievement as a function of language.

The superior mathematics performance of Asian Americans has been documented by recent reports of standardized test results and supported by cross-national comparisons of mathematics achievement. Cultural emphasis on education, parental support for learning, and innate ability have been cited as factors contributing to this exceptional performance. In this study, in which American and Japanese children residing in the United States were compared, variations in cognitive representation of number were examined in an attempt to understand these cultural and ethnic differences in students' mathematics scores from the perspective of differential cognitive organization of number resulting from differences in primary-language characteristics. Results showed that the cognitive representation of number for children whose only language was English differed from those whose primary language was Japanese. The relation between cognitive representation of number and mathematics achievement was also explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attractive versus unattractive clients: Mediating influences on counselor's perceptions.

Investigated the effects of clients' (C's) age, physical attractiveness, and in-session behavior on Ss' attraction to the Cs. Female undergraduates were assigned to 1 of 8 experimental conditions in which the C was depicted as (a) an adult or a child, (b) physically attractive or unattractive, and (c) verbal ("good" in-session behavior) or nonverbal ("bad" insession behavior). Results indicate that "counselor" Ss were significantly more attracted to child than to adult Cs and to those Cs demonstrating good in-session behaviors as opposed to those performing poorly. Physically attractive Cs were not rated significantly more interpersonally attractive than physically unattractive ones. An interaction between age and in-session behavior suggested that bad in-session behavior significantly decreased the attractiveness of adult Cs but not that of children. Thus, although counselors tend to favor young, attractive, verbal, intelligent and successful (YAVIS) Cs, certain YAVIS characteristics may have a more potent effect on C attractiveness than others. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Errors as a function of noun concreteness.

Conducted 2 experiments to investigate the effects of stimulus and response noun concreteness in paired-associate learning. In Exp. I, error-success protocols were examined with the aid of a 2-stage Markov model. 64 undergraduates and spouses served as Ss. The 2 stages of the model have been interpreted in terms of storage and retrieval processes. In Exp. II, the production, retrieval, and decoding of mediators were examined. 15 undergraduates served as Ss. The model analysis indicated that the primary effect of noun concreteness, whether manipulated in the stimulus or response terms, was on the retrieval process. The data from Exp. II were consistent with this conclusion, in that concreteness affected the retrieval and decoding of mediators rather than the number of mediators generated. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)