Despite its significance, the field of informal peer counseling remains relatively unexplored. This study focused on the therapeutic responses that laymen give to and desire from their peers. In two separate studies, S's indicated their reactions to scripts presented in booklets or on tapes. S's were instructed to respond to these scripts as if the problem were being presented by "a friend". As expected, females tended to be more receptive and nurturing than males. These results were consistent with a view of females as more other-oriented than males. Males did not indicate greater usage of any category of response compared with females in either experiment; thus, they did not appear to be more rejecting overtly than females, although they seemed less actively helpful. The stimulus person's emotions had a major impact on therapeutic responses. Sadness elicited more nurturing responses and more positive evaluations than anger. Sex-of-target effects in both studies provided very weak support for the view that specific emotions would be responded to differentially, depending upon the target sex. The authors discuss implications of these results for peer counseling as a form of preventive therapy. (Author/PC)