The proposed study will examine some critical therapist characteristics (skin color, speech rhythm, expertise levels, and counseling approach) possessed by present Chicano mental health personnel. One hundred and sixty lower division Mexican American college students will be asked to rate the therapist on expertness, attractiveness,…

Investigates effects of sex of judge, sex of referent, and sex-pairing of judge and referent on level of understanding, or affective sensitivity, of school counselors. Male and female counselors were found to be equally accurate in their empathic judgments. There were no detected effects of sex-pairing. (Author)

Examined relationship between counselor deliberate postural lean and communication of intensity, empathic understanding, respect, and genuineness. Used 12 male counselors under three postural lean conditions in counseling interaction with female clients. Making a required lean forward was associated with decreased facilitative levels and backward,…

Investigated effects of predicate usage, facilitative skill level, and participant sex on ratings of empathic understanding. After listening to one of four audiotapes utilizing different counselor response modes, subjects (n=225) evaluated counselor empathy. Findings suggest that counselor communication skill level seems to be more important than…

The ability to empathize with clients or students is a prime factor in the counselor's or teacher's success. Affective sensitivity, or acuteness in detecting and describing the emotions of others, is a critical component of empathy. It has generally been assumed that the masculine orientation toward instrumental or cognitive focus on problem…

This study, using Truax's Scale for the Measurement of Accurate Empathy and an adapted version of Warman's Counseling Appropriateness Check-List, investigated the influence of empathy on student perception of counselor role. In addition, the influence of grade level and sex was explored. (Author)

Evaluated the effectiveness of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) feedback in developing empathy in novice counselors. Results suggest training with biofeedback was associated with more affective responding by the counselor but did not facilitate counselor communication of understanding of clients' concerns, nor was a pervasive increase in perceptual…

Social workers may offer clients four types of support: protection, acceptance, validation, and education. Social workers must examine their own attitudes toward support as well as evaluate the support they receive within their professional settings. They must also assess clients' needs. (Author)

Tested effects of counselor disability status (hearing, deaf) and communication method (sign language, interpreter, written) on deaf adolescents' (N=106) ratings of counselor social influence, empathy, and willingness to see counselor. Subjects rated videotaped counselors higher on social influence, counselor effectiveness, and empathy if used…

Female counselor trainees (N=28) in a facilitative skills development course were rated for empathy on the basis of written responses to two videotaped vignettes--one Kohlbergian moral dilemma and one morally neutral dilemma. Found students responded more empathically to morally neutral task than to Kohlbergian task. (Author/TE)

The primary purpose of this study was to develop and validate a measure of counselor empathy. A pilot study was conducted with 72 undergraduate students and 12 graduate students in order to develop the Empathic Differential (ED)D. Twenty-one bi-polar objectives were yielded significant through intercorrelation analysis. The validation study…

Examined relation between college students' (N=172) expectations about counseling and measures of students' psychosocial development. Found significant relations between students' expectations about counseling and scores on Student Development Task Inventory, but no significant relations were found between scores on Expectations about Counseling…

Presents a comparative analysis of individual and group psychotherapy process research. Identifies commonalities between these two treatment formats across the therapeutic dimensions of relationship, interventions, and factors. Explores the distinctive characteristics of group treatment and suggests conceptual implications for the practice and…

This study investigated the relationships among client adherence to Asian cultural values, counselor expression of cultural values, counselor ethnicity, and career counseling process with Asian American college students. Clients who had high adherence to Asian cultural values evaluated Asian American counselors as more empathic and credible than…

Seventy-eight Asian American college students who were experiencing career uncertainty engaged in a counseling session with a European American female counselor who focused on either immediate resolution of the problem or insight attainment through exploration of the problem and who emphasized client expression of either cognition or emotion.…