| Abstract: | On the basis of attribution theory, it was hypothesized that as supervisors gain experience at counseling, they would attribute their supervisee's counseling behaviors less often to counselor traits than would supervisors who have little or no counseling experience. 10 min of an audiotaped counseling session were presented to 82 Ss in 4 groups: undergraduate psychology students, master's degree students in counseling and clinical psychology, post-master's degree students, and post-PhD counselors. The Ss then rated the degree to which the counselor could be described by 8 trait labels. As predicted, Ss with more counseling experience made weaker trait attributions than did those with little or no experience. It is suggested that this result is due to the increased empathy of experienced counselors. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
