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)     

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)     

When counselors are heard but not seen: Initial impact of physical attractiveness.

Out of a total of 72 undergraduates, 24 males and 24 females viewed the videotaped professional self-presentation of a presumed counselor who was either physically attractive or unattractive. Ss then indicated their impressions of the counselor on 12 traits and their expectancies of the counselor's helpfulness for 15 personal problems. Relative to the physically unattractive counselor, the attractive counselor generally was perceived more favorably by both sexes, especially with regard to his intelligence, friendliness, assertiveness, trustworthiness, competence, warmth, and likeability. The attractive counselor also elicited more favorable counseling outcome expectancies for 8 of the specific personal problems. 2 control groups who listened to the tapes but were unaware of the counselor's appearance did not differ from each other in their ratings of the counselors. Results are discussed in the context of previous and further research on the physical attractiveness variable and in the context of their implications for counseling. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Native American college students' preference for counselor race and sex and the likelihood of their use of a counseling center.

39 female and 23 male Native American college students completed questionnaires assessing their preference for counselor race and sex and the likelihood of their using a counseling center. Both females and males demonstrated a strong preference for Native American counselors, regardless of problem situation. Males preferred male counselors, but females expressed a preference for female counselors only if they had a personal problem. Likelihood of using the counseling center increased as counselor preference increased. Likelihood of using the counseling center increased if Ss could be seen by a counselor of the same race regardless of problem situation. Only in the personal-problem situation did likelihood ratings increase if Ss could be seen by a counselor of the preferred sex. Ss were less likely to indicate they would go to the counseling center with a personal problem if they would be seen by either their 3rd- or 4th-choice counselors. (14 ref) (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)     

Effects of counselor sex and sex role and client sex on clients' perceptions and self-disclosure in a counseling analogue study.

Studied the effects of client sex and counselor sex and sex role on the counseling relationship, using an analogue format in which 35 male and 39 female undergraduate students participated in simulated counseling interviews. Ss were stratified by sex and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatment conditions: (a) masculine male counselor, (b) feminine male counselor, (c) masculine female counselor, and (d) feminine female counselor. At the conclusion of the interview, the S completed the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory (Form OS-M-64) and a questionnaire assessing the S's satisfaction with the counseling session. The audiotapes of the sessions were rated by trained judges for (a) positive affective self-references, (b) negative affective self-references, and (c) total non-affective self-references of the Ss. Male Ss were more satisfied with the counseling process than female Ss. Male Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with feminine counselors than with masculine counselors, regardless of counselor sex, but female Ss indicated greater satisfaction and a higher level of counselor regard with masculine counselors than with feminine counselors, regardless of counselor sex. Male Ss talked most about themselves with feminine female counselors and least about themselves with masculine female counselors, while female Ss talked most about themselves with feminine male counselors and least about themselves with masculine male counselors. These findings are related to the feminist pleas for same-sex pairing in the counseling relationship. (34 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)     

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)     

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)     

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)     

Effects of client preference and expectancy upon the initial interview.

Used a 2 * 3 design with 10 Ss per cell to show how initial counseling interview process and outcome are affected by (a) assigning clients to either more preferred or less preferred counselors; (b) giving clients either positive, nonexistent, or negative expectancy inductions regarding their counselor assignments; and (c) congruence and incongruence between clients' expectations and experiences. Process and outcome were assessed using client and counselor self-report measures and audiotape segment ratings. More preferred assignment conditions received more favorable tape ratings than did less preferred assignment conditions. Positive or no-expectancy conditions revealed a more favorable counseling outcome than did negative expectancy conditions. Most Ss showed increased preferences for counselors seen despite congruence or incongruence between their expectations and experiences. (39 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)     

Perceptions of counselor source characteristics by premature and successful terminators.

Examined 56 premature and 148 successful terminators' perceptions of counselor source characteristics and satisfaction with counseling services at a university counseling center. S-completed measures included the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire and a counselor rating form. Results indicate that Ss who terminated prematurely were less satisfied with counseling services that they received and viewed their counselors as less expert, attractive, and trustworthy than did Ss who terminated successfully. Ss who responded anonymously to the evaluation form viewed the counselors as less attractive and trustworthy and also expressed less satisfaction with counseling than did those who did not respond anonymously. Significant though modest correlations between ratings of source characteristics and client satisfaction were also found. (16 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)