Self-authorship, a theory developed by Robert Kegan (1982) and applied to college students by Marcia Baxter Magolda, is the ability to internally define one's own beliefs, identity, and relationships (Baxter Magolda, 2001). People who self-author have the ability to make career, academic, relationship, and life decisions that take into…

Two counselors, one a self-described feminist and the other holding more conservative attitudes toward women's liberation, led separate, semistructured consciousness-raising groups. It was found that participants in the group led by the feminist counselor showed higher postsession scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale. (GC)

Findings indicate that highly flexible self-disclosers evidence a heightened social perceptiveness. They also evidence significantly greater affective empathy and more accurate perceptions of facilitative responding than do less flexible disclosers. (Author)

The feelings of therapist and patient toward each other are important factors in the therapeutic relationship. This study investigated how beginning therapists perceive and are perceived by clients. After initial counseling sessions with college student clients (N=133), six psychotherapy practicum trainees at a university counseling center…

While some new journals for psychotherapists are beginning to address practical decisions important for attracting clients and succeeding in the business of psychotherapy, the literature which might provide empirical evidence upon which to base such decisions still lags. A study was undertaken to provide practitioners with further information and…

Summarizes two questionnaire surveys on the counselors' viewpoints and opinions about the engineering student and on the engineering students' perceptions of themselves. Indicates that there exist differences between the coulselors' and students' perceptions, especially on personality. (CC)

Examined the relationship between beginning therapists' personalities and their evaluations of three divergent family therapy styles. Sixty clinical and counseling psychology students completed the Adjective Checklist and three friends/family members rated them. Self-rated personality factors of dominant-masculinity and nurturant-femininity were…

Searched for interaction between quality of counseling skills (presence or absence of empathy, genuineness, and positive regard) and physical attractiveness as determinants of counseling effectiveness. Attractiveness influenced perceived effectiveness of counselor's skill. Analyses of expectancy data revealed that only with good skills did…

Researched hypothesis-testing strategies (HTSs) used by counselors. Undergraduates and counselors-in-training interacted with a computer-simulated client counselor, then counselor. Of the three HTSs (confirmatory, disconfirmatory, and unbiased), the unbiased HTS was preferred choice of HTS, was stable across time and with different feedback, and…

Investigated the relationship between age, sex, experience level, attitudes towards women, and dogmatism. Evaluated graduate students (N=544) counseling a female pseudoclient on career choice. Results indicated that counselor trainees did not demonstrate sexist behaviors in counseling. Findings suggest that nonsexist counseling is promoted by…

Examined perception of ethicalness of some common beliefs, frequency of ethical behaviors, and agreement between ethical beliefs and behavior of college counseling center personnel (n=137). Results of the national survey identified areas in which staff were practicing in an ethical fashion and areas in which staff may need clarification of ethical…

Child sexual abuse is being reported more often than ever before and counselors need to be prepared to serve victims of such abuse. In offering course materials and activities in master's level counselor education programs, instructors may notice a reluctance by some of the students to deal with these issues. This reluctance may be due to the fact…

Surveyed 73 American Indian and 81 white college students to determine preferences for counselor characteristics when facing academic or personal problems. Found both groups most preferred counselor with similar attitudes and values. Similar ethnicity appeared more important to American Indian students. Dissimilar characteristics were consistently…

Empathic responses of 27 graduate and undergraduate counseling students with high and low moral development were compared. Both groups responded more empathically to a client whose moral development was lower than their own, suggesting that counselor empathy is related to both the counselor's and the client's level of moral development. (Author/TE)

Examines the interaction among precounseling information, religiosity, and problem type and its subsequent effect on counselor ratings of social influence and willingness to seek help. Results indicate that such interactions, as well as participant religiosity, counselor description, and participant problem type, were predictive only with respect…