Virtually all counseling theories have viewed counselor empathic ability as an important condition for counseling, while the concept of countertransference, any therapist feelings or attitudes toward the client, has had a much shakier history. A two-part counseling analogue was designed to examine the relationship of male counselor trainees'…

Resistant, intermediate, and nonresistant female college students (N=150) listened to counseling session with female counselor using either tentative or absolute style of interpretation. Subjects rated counselor's expertness, attractiveness, trustworthiness; helpfulness and effectiveness of interpretations; and willingness to see counselor.…