Physical attractiveness: Interactive effects of counselor and client on counseling processes.

192 college students, selected on the basis of their scores on an attractiveness battery, assumed the role of a client having social skill problems during 3 counseling sessions. Exp I was a factorial design in which the major variables were counselor's physical attractiveness, client's physical attractiveness, and sex of client. Exp II studied the interaction between physical attractiveness of the counselor and client's susceptibility to attractiveness as determinants of outcome. In both experiments, Ss roleplayed a client who interacted with a female counselor. The counselor's physical attractiveness had a major impact on her perceived therapeutic effectiveness and the client's expectancies about future success, irrespective of the client's physical attractiveness or sex. Male clients generally attributed a higher level of skill to the female counselor than did female clients. When the counselor was unattractive, clients who were more susceptible to attractiveness perceived her as less skillful than clients who were less susceptible to attractiveness. Physical attractiveness of the counselor accounted for over 50% of the variance in perceived effectiveness and future expectancy measures in both experiments. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of nonprofessional counselors' physical attractiveness and sex on perceptions of counselor behavior.

Previous research has suggested that the physical attractiveness of male counselors differentially affects observers' reactions to brief counselor self-introductions. 96 female undergraduates were exposed to audiotaped counseling interviews conducted by nonprofessional counselors of both sexes who were physically anonymous or were identified photographically as physically attractive or unattractive. Dependent measures including the Relationship Inventory were selected on the basis of their relevance to current counseling theory and research and included counselor trait attributions, perceived facilitative conditions, motivations for continuing counseling, and counseling outcome expectations for a variety of presenting problems. Multivariate analysis of the data produced consistent findings which were unmitigated by counselor sex. The counseling behaviors of unattractive counselors were judged to reflect less desirable traits and conditions and engendered weaker commitment and less optimistic expectations than did identical behaviors attributed to physically attractive or anonymous counselors. Conclusions are discussed in terms of counseling conditions which might potentiate or eliminate these initial effects of counselor physical attractiveness. (39 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)     

The beauty of counseling: Effects of counselor physical attractiveness and self-disclosures on perceptions of counselor behavior.

Investigated influences of the physical attractiveness and self-disclosures of nonprofessional counselors in initial counseling interviews. In a 3–2 factorial design, 144 female undergraduates were exposed to audiotaped interviews in which an attractive, unattractive, or physically unidentified male counselor revealed no self-information or expressed an equal and moderate number of demographic or personal similarity self-disclosures. Consistent with previous research evidence, nondisclosing, unattractive counselors elicited less desirable behavioral attributions (including perceived regard, empathy, and genuineness determined by the Relationship Inventory) and counseling expectations than attractive counselors. Demographic and personal disclosures successfully eliminated these attractiveness effects for attribution variables. Additive effects of attractiveness and disclosure were observed for nearly all the expectancy variables. Experimental and applied implications are discussed with regard to the literature on physical attractiveness and counselor disclosure. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' sex preferences and sex role expectancies for counselors.

Examined sex role expectancies for counselors as a function of sex of student, preference for counselor's sex, and sex of counselor being rated. 128 male and 249 female college students were asked what sex of counselor they would prefer if they were seeking help with personal or social concerns, and then they were randomly assigned to rate their sex role expectancies for either a male or a female counselor, using the Bem Sex Role Inventory with modified instructions. Results indicate that male students expected counselors to be less masculine than did female students, that male counselors were expected to be masculine while female counselors were expected to be psychologically androgynous, and that students with sex preferences for counselors had more stereotyped expectancies for counselor characteristics than did students with no preference. Implications of these findings for the counseling setting are discussed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of profane language and physical attractiveness on perceptions of counselor behavior.

Assigned 72 undergraduates to 1 of 8 experimental conditions of videotaped counseling sessions where they rated the counselor on a variety of dependent measures related to their impressions of counselor professional and personal attributes, likelihood of counseling for a variety of presenting problems, and their satisfaction. Multivariate analyses revealed that counselors using profanity were rated less favorably across all measures regardless of physical attractiveness. A significant multivariate interaction indicated that when profanity was present, female counselors were rated more positively than male counselors. Overall, physically attractive counselors, regardless of their sex or use of profanity, were judged to have more favorable attributes. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mexican-American acculturation, counselor ethnicity, counseling style, and perceived counselor credibility.

Used a 3?×?2?×?2 factorial design to study the effects of S acculturation (low, medium, or high), counselor ethnicity (Anglo-American or Mexican-American), and counseling style (directive or nondirective) on Mexican-American Ss' perceptions of and willingness to see a counselor. Within acculturation levels, Ss were randomly assigned to view stimulus materials (in which the counselor's ethnicity was varied) and to listen to tape recordings of a simulated counseling session (in which the counseling style was varied). No evidence was found of an acculturation effect for any dependent variable. However, Ss gave higher credibility ratings and were more willing to see a counselor who was Mexican American for personal, academic, and vocational concerns. Also, more positive ratings were given to the directive counseling style than the nondirective counseling style. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of client and counselor expectancies regarding the duration of counseling.

Asked 594 college students seeking counseling at a university counseling center to indicate duration expectancies in the form of estimates of the number of sessions needed to resolve the problem(s) they were presenting. Following the initial interview, 40 counselors who saw the clients gave their own duration expectancies for 434 of the clients. The results of a comparison of estimates showed that clients consistently gave significantly lower mean estimates than counselors. No significant correlations were obtained between client or counselor duration expectancies and the number of weeks remaining in the school term or year. Clients with career development concerns and counselors of clients with these concerns gave the smallest mean estimates. Large mean and modal discrepancies occurred between client and counselor estimates for personal/social problems. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness and attributions for disability.

80 undergraduates viewed stimulus slides of an unattractive or attractive female or an unattractive or attractive male who had allegedly become paraplegic as a result of an automobile accident. Ss then completed a questionnaire assessing the potential causes of the accident, prognosis for the victim's disability, and the victim's level of responsibility for the accident. Results demonstrate that the unattractive victims were perceived as having more permanent disabilities and needing longer rehabilitation periods than the attractive victims. Ss made different attributions of the injury and assigned more personal responsibility to the physically attractive victims. Findings are discussed within the context of the "just world" hypothesis proposed by M. Lerner et al (1976). (13 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)     

Relationship between expectancies for a helping relationship and tendency to seek help from a campus help provider.

236 undergraduate volunteers were randomly assigned to 1 of 7 experimental groups or a control group to complete a tendency-to-seek-help questionnaire. In addition, Ss in the experimental groups completed an expectancies-about-counseling questionnaire, designed to measure their expectancies about a helping interview with 7 campus help providers: advisor, career counselor, clinical psychologist, college counselor, counseling psychologist, peer counselor, and psychiatrist. Analysis of the data revealed (a) differences in the expectancies Ss held for the 7 campus help providers, (b) differences in the Ss' tendency to seek help from the 7 campus help providers for personal and career problems, and (c) relationships between the Ss' expectancies for a help provider and their tendency to turn to that help provider for assistance with a personal or career concern. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential effects of style of interpretation: Another look.

The impact of two styles of interpretation (tentative and absolute) was compared for subjects who were classified as resistant, intermediate (on resistance), or nonresistant on the basis of measures of dogmatism and locus of control. Subjects (N?=?150 women) listened to taped interactions of the initial phase of counseling with a female counselor and a female client in which the counselor delivered one or the other style of interpretation. After listening to the interactions from the vantage point of a client, subjects rated the counselor's social influence (expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness), the helpfulness and effectiveness of interpretations, and their own willingness to see the counselor in counseling. Hypothesized interactions between interpretation style (tentative or absolute) and client type (resistant, intermediate, or nonresistant) did not occur. Instead, tentative interpretations were generally viewed more positively than absolute interpretations. Also, resistant types rated the counselor as more attractive than did others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The cultural grounding of personal relationship: The importance of attractiveness in everyday life.

Previous research has suggested that physically attractive people experience more positive life outcomes than do unattractive people. However, the importance of physical attractiveness in everyday life may vary depending on the extent to which different cultural worlds afford or require individual choice in the construction and maintenance of personal relationships. The authors hypothesized that attractiveness matters more for life outcomes in settings that promote voluntaristic-independent constructions of relationship as the product of personal choice than it does in settings that promote embedded-interdependent constructions of relationship as an environmental affordance. Study 1 examined self-reported outcomes of attractive and unattractive persons. Study 2 examined expectations about attractive and unattractive targets. Results provide support for the hypothesis along four dimensions: national context, relationship context, rural-urban context, and experimental manipulation of relationship constructions. These patterns suggest that the importance of physical attractiveness documented by psychological research is the product of particular constructions of reality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A survey of students' attitudes toward counseling at a predominantly Black university.

A questionnaire survey of 377 students' attitudes toward counseling at a predominantly Black university produced results similar to those reported for predominantly White campuses. The predisposition to seek out counseling services depended on the type of problem. Most Ss were willing to discuss with the counselor matters related to vocational and educational concerns; however, for personal adjustment problems there was significant decline in the frequency with which the counselor's help was sought. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of feminist and nonfeminist women's reactions to variants of nonsexist and feminist counseling.

We were concerned with client–counselor matching along the dimension of attitudes toward feminism. We hypothesized that feminist subjects would be more receptive to the radical feminist counselor, whereas nonfeminist subjects would rate the nonsexist and liberal feminist counselor more positively. College women (N?=?150) viewed 12 videotaped counseling vignettes that were varied by the feminist orientation of the counselor and the explicitness of the counselor's value statement about her approach in 2 replications. Contrary to our expectation all subjects preferred to see the feminist counselor for career and sexual assault concerns; no significant differences were observed across counselors for personal concerns. Significant differences in favor of the feminist counselor were observed on ratings of counselor expertness and trustworthiness. The implications for future research on feminist counseling and therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of disabled counselors' self-disclosures on client perceptions of the counselor.

In a videotaped counseling analog, 2 male counselors each portrayed (a) an obviously disabled counselor in a wheelchair and (b) a not obviously disabled counselor with visual impairment. Within each condition, counselors did or did not make self-disclosures about their disability. Ss were 169 university students, none of whom was disabled or had close friends or relatives who were disabled. Results indicate that counselors in several of the disability conditions were rated as being significantly more expert and attractive than able-bodied counselors. Counselor self-disclosures did not have a clearly negative or positive effect on Ss' perceptions. The hypothesis that awareness of a counselor's disability may enhance client perceptions of his or her credibility is discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling relationship as a function of counselor's self-confidence.

Studied effects of counselor self-confidence on counseling relationships. 24 high- and 24 low-self-confidence clients were assigned randomly to 1 high-, 1 moderate-, and 1 low-self-confidence counselor and to either individual or group counseling. 3 counseling relationship inventories were administered, 1 at the end of the conclusion of the experiment. Multivariate analysis of variance procedure was applied to the 3 (counselors) * 2 (clients) * 2 (settings) completely randomized factorial design. Results indicate that the degree of perceived counselor's empathy, warmth, genuineness, intimacy, concreteness, expertness, regard, and congruence was linearly related to the level of counselor's self-confidence. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)