Perceptions of Counselor Characteristics: Contributions of Counselor Sex, Experience, and Disclosure Level.

Strong proposed that expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness may enhance the counselor's ability to influence clients. In a counseling analogue the present study assessed the effects of counselor sex (male or female), experience (expert or nonexpert), and self-disclosure level (high or low) on perceived expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. Results indicated that (a) expert counselors were rated more expert than nonexpert; (b) female experts were rated more expert than female nonexperts, but male experts and nonexperts were not different from one another; (c) high-disclosing counselors were perceived as more attractive than low-disclosing counselors; (d) expert and nonexpert high-disclosing counselors were more attractive than expert low-disclosing counselors; (e) low-disclosing counselors were rated more trustworthy than high-disclosing counselors; and (f) low-disclosing female counselors were rated more trustworthy than high-disclosing female counselors, but male high- and low-disclosing counselors were not different from one another. Additional findings are presented, and implications of the results concerning counselor sex are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of self-disclosing versus self-involving counselor statements across counselor–client gender pairings.

60 male and 60 female undergraduates listened to 1 of 8 audiotaped recordings of a counseling interview between either an experienced male or female counselor and a male client, for male Ss, or a female client, for female Ss. One half of the male and female Ss heard a tape containing counselor self-disclosure statements; the other half heard a tape containing counselor self-involving statements. Ss rated counselors' expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness, and generated written responses to each self-disclosing or self-involving counselor statement. Across all counselor–client gender pairings, self-involving counselors were rated as significantly more expert, attractive, and trustworthy than were self-disclosing counselors. Further, client responses to self-disclosing counselor statements contained significantly more questions about the counselors, were significantly longer responses, and were significantly more likely to be phrased in the past or future rather than in the present tense. Finally, client responses to the self-involving counselor statements contained significantly more client self-referents. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impressions of counselors as a function of counselor physical attractiveness.

Assessed the effects of counselor physical attractiveness and interactions between attractiveness and counselor and S sex. 40 male and 40 female undergraduates rated their 1st impressions of a counselor and their expectations for counseling outcome on the basis of a photograph of either an attractive or an unattractive person and a brief, audiotaped self-introduction by either a male or a female counseling psychologist. Attractiveness did not show main effects but did interact with sex variables, which did show several main effects. Female counselors, particularly in the attractive condition, received higher ratings than male counselors on several impression variables, and female Ss gave higher ratings on impression variables than did male Ss. Both attractive and unattractive counselors were within the normal range of attractiveness, however. It is suggested that within the natural setting, sex of counselor and client may play a more important role independently and in conjunction with attractiveness than does attractiveness alone in influencing impressions and expectations. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal behavior and perceived counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness.

Investigated the perception of counselor attractiveness and persuasiveness through the expression of nonverbal behavior. Ss were 20 male and 20 female psychology undergraduates. 2 male and female counselors were trained to portray "affiliative" manner and "unaffiliative" manner. In a repeated measures design, Ss saw 4 different counselors and then rated them on scales measuring perceived attractiveness and persuasiveness. Results indicate that counselors in the affiliative manner condition were perceived as significantly more attractive and persuasive than counselors in the unaffiliative condition. Ss attributed greater attractiveness and persuasiveness to the same nonverbal cues encoded into the roles. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours": Consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness.

The consistency of physical attractiveness ratings across cultural groups was examined. In Study 1, recently arrived native Asian and Hispanic students and White Americans rated the attractiveness of Asian, Hispanic, Black, and White photographed women. The mean correlation between groups in attractiveness ratings was r?=?.93. Asians, Hispanics, and Whites were equally influenced by many facial features, but Asians were less influenced by some sexual maturity and expressive features. In Study 2, Taiwanese attractiveness ratings correlated with prior Asian, Hispanic, and American ratings, mean r?=?.91. Supporting Study 1, the Taiwanese also were less positively influenced by certain sexual maturity and expressive features. Exposure to Western media did not influence attractiveness ratings in either study. In Study 3, Black and White American men rated the attractiveness of Black female facial photos and body types. Mean facial attractiveness ratings were highly correlated (r?=?.94), but as predicted Blacks and Whites varied in judging bodies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of level of acculturation and counseling style on Hispanic students' perceptions of counselor.

It was hypothesized that level of acculturation and counseling style would affect Hispanic students' perceptions of certain counselor attributes and willingness to see a counselor. Pretesting on an acculturation scale placed 94 Hispanic undergraduate college students in one of three types, Hispanic acculturated, bicultural, or Anglo acculturated. The participants viewed a counseling videotape of one of two White female counselors portraying either a directive or a nondirective counseling style and rated her on two scales. Results indicated that acculturation had a significant effect on ratings of trustworthiness and counselor understanding. Counseling style had a significant effect on the students' perception of counselor knowledge of psychology, counselor willingness to help, and on their own willingness to see a counselor. Sex of the participants had a significant effect on perceptions of counselor attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Black and White student preferences for counselor roles.

28 Black and 28 White students from 2 university programs viewed a brief videotape of a counseling sesson in 1 of 4 conditions defined by (a) 2 female counselors (1 Black, 1 White); and (b) 2 counselor roles (active, passive). Analysis of Ss' ratings of counselor performances reveal (a) no differences among conditions in perceived attentiveness or friendliness; (b) significant differences between roles in perceptions of counselor behavior (as intended); (c) significantly higher ratings of competence and helpfulness for counselors in the active vs the passive role, regardless of counselor or S role; and (d) a main effect for counselor, which could not be unequivocally attributed either to counselor role performance or to counselor role. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal influence process in real-life counseling: Investigating client perceptions, counselor experience level, and counselor power over time.

Examined the interpersonal influence process within an actual counseling context over an average of 8 sessions. Counselors were either beginning or advanced practicum students or doctoral interns (n?=?27); clients were 31 students who sought counseling at a university center. Before and after counseling Ss completed the Counselor Rating Form, the Expectations about Counseling measure, and the Counselor Perceptions Questionnaire. Results indicate that (a) the actual counselor experience level did not affect client perceptions of the counselor; (b) perceived counselor expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness changed over time, but not in the same direction across counselors; (c) different levels of client need did not affect clients' perceptions of counselor characteristics; and (d) counselors rated as highly attractive indicated they had more therapeutic power over clients than counselors rated as moderately attractive. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of analogue strategies for investigating the influence of counselors' physical attractiveness.

Assessed the validity of examining the influence of counselor's physical attractiveness via observation of videotape segments. The 1st section of the study involved a replication of a study by T. F. Cash et al (see record 1975-25729-001) using 3-min videotaped excerpts of introductory presentations made by 3 male and 3 female graduate-student counselors. 40 undergraduates were Ss. Two control conditions (audio-only and video-only observations) were used for comparisons. In the 2nd section, the same 6 counselors each saw 5 clients over 4 sessions for an individually administered assertiveness-training program. Ss in all conditions provided standardized ratings of counselor attractiveness, technical skill, and social competence. Counselor ratings were highly influenced by modality of presentation, with in-vivo contact yielding more positive impressions than those made after simply observing the counselor. Physical attractiveness was a less powerful predictor of counselor effectiveness than perceived technical skill. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An evaluation of the sex stereotyping effect as related to counselor perceptions of courses appropriate for high school students.

Compared the appropriateness of course choices made by 96 female and male high school counselees as rated by 13 female and male counselors to determine if there was a sex bias effect. The sex, grade, and the ability level of ratees were controlled for in a 4-way analysis of variance. The Ss were randomly assigned to each counselor to ensure equal numbers of males and females from each grade and each ability level. The counselors were given achievement information, ability-level data, courses previously taken, grades received, and information about future plans. Each S was rated 5 times by the counselors. No significant differences were found between the ratings of the female and male counselors. Significant findings are (a) the higher the ability level of the counselee, the more appropriate were the courses; and (b) females were rated as having more appropriate courses than were males (using post hoc procedures, the significant difference occurring at the junior year in high school). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor intake judgments about White and Black clients in a university counseling center.

Compared counselor intake judgments about White and Black clients at a university counseling center. 1,078 White and 42 Black clients were randomly assigned to 1 of 13 counselors (11 Whites, 2 Blacks), who rated the clients on 11 variables. Counselors reported significantly higher ratings only on the judged potential for change in Black clients when compared with that in White clients. Ratings in the type and severity of presenting problem, client anxiety level, ease of expression, motivation, realism of goals, and physical appearance were not significantly different. Counselors' feelings about clients and the predicted number of counseling sessions were also similar for Black and White clients. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical appearance and personal adjustment counseling.

75 male and 80 female undergraduates were seen by 11 male and 4 female counselors for personal problems at a university counseling center. Counselor's retrospective attractiveness ratings were related to interview performance, initial clinical status, final clinical status, and prognosis. Counselor and receptionist ratings for attractiveness correlated positively only for women. Regardless of sex of counselor or client, attractiveness ratings by counselors were significantly related to prognosis. Sex differences in other correlates were found. Social and developmental implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of counselor gender on reactivity to clients.

Explored the responses of 40 experienced counselors to videotaped clients. Five female and 5 male counselors saw 1 of 4 clients: angry female or male or depressed female or male. During 4 vignette stops, counselors explored their immediate subjective reaction to the clients. Their verbal material was taperecorded and rated by 2 judges on sympathy, identification, defensiveness, and anger. Counselors themselves rated 4 variables: liking, attractiveness for counseling, empathy, and comfort. Multivariate ANOVA produced 2 significant counselor/gender effects. Female counselors rated themselves as more empathic than did males, and females were rated as angrier than were males. Results are discussed in terms of the method developed for the study. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations and preferences for counselor race and their relation to intermediate treatment outcomes.

The expectations and preferences of 26 White and 8 Black male veterans for the race of their counselor were investigated at the time the clients entered treatment in a midwestern outpatient mental health clinic. In addition, Ss' satisfaction with treatment, measured by a 3-factor self-rating scale and dropout status, were analyzed in relation to Ss' expectations and preferences for counselor race and the racial makeup of the treatment dyad. Results indicate that White and Black clients alike expected their counselor to be White. About half of the White Ss and half of the Blacks indicated that they had no preferences. However, the significant association between race and S preference for counselor race suggests that Ss expressing preferences preferred counselors of their own race. Dropout and satisfaction with treatment were not related to the nature of Ss' racial expectations and preferences or to the racial makeup of the treatment dyads. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)