VALUE SYSTEM SIMILARITY: INVESTIGATION OF PATIENT-THERAPIST DYADS.

THIS STUDY STEMS FROM A PROPOSITION COMMON TO SEVERAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIES: THERE IS MOVEMENT TOWARD SIMILARITY OR EQUILIBRIUM IN SOCIAL INTERACTION IN A DYAD. THE INTERACTION STUDIED CONCERNS VALUES IN THE THERAPIST-PATIENT DYAD. THE SAMPLE OF 38 THERAPISTS AND 44 PATIENTS WAS OBTAINED AT 2 PSYCHOANALYTIC TRAINING CENTERS. THE VALUES WERE MEASURED BY THE WAYS TO LIVE SCALE AND THE SVIB. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT (1) THERAPISTS AND THEIR OWN PATIENTS WERE CLOSER IN VALUES THAN THOSE RANDOMLY PAIRED, (2) THERAPISTS DID NOT SHARE A HOMOGENEOUS VALUE SYSTEM, AND (3) THOSE PATIENTS RATED AS "MOST IMPROVED" BY THEIR THERAPISTS WERE CLOSER TO THEIR THERAPISTS IN VALUES THAN PATIENTS RATED "LEAST IMPROVED." THE PROPOSITION THAT VALUES MOVE TOWARD SIMILARITY IN ONGOING THERAPIST-PATIENT DYADS WAS NOT REFUTED. (19 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)