Forming clinical impressions during the first five minutes of the counseling interview

The influence of earlier formed clinical impressions of the client on later judgments within a counseling session were examined. It was predicted that redundancy in judgments of counselors' clinical impressions of the client after 5 min. and after 30 min. of an interview would be greater for counselor-trainees who are (a) more self-confident about their judgments and (b) lower in cognitive complexity, than other counselor-trainees. A stimulus tape in which a male counselor conducted an initial 30-min. interview with a depressed female client was shown to 80 counselor-trainees. At the 5- and 30-min. marks, the tape was stopped, and the counselor-trainees indicated their clinical impressions of the client. These impressions included written thoughts and ratings of clinical characteristics of the client. Analyses showed that both their self-confidence and cognitive complexity were not associated with differences in redundant judgments.

Effects of preinterview suggestion on counselor memory, clinical impression, and confidence in judgments

This study examined the effects of schematic preinterview suggestion on counselors' (a) recognition memory of the information presented by the client; (b) clinical impression rating of the client; and (c) confidence in rating clinical impression. Fifty-two Master's-level counselor-trainees were assigned randomly to two conditions of preinterview suggestion about the status of the client (i.e., depression and no depression). After subjects had received appropriate preinterview information (i.e., depression or no-depression content) and had viewed a videotaped counseling interview, information was gathered from them. The results indicated that the preinterview suggestion (a) did not affect counselor-trainees' clinical impression rating of the client; (b) did not affect confidence of rating; and (c) yielded a weak, but significant, confirmatory memory. Implications for the interview setting are discussed.

Development of an instrument to assess clinicians' recognition memory using a videotaped stimulus interview

This study represents the development of an instrument to assess clinicians' memory using a videotaped counseling interview. The instrument, called the Recognition Checklist (RC), consists of 60 items of information based on the content presented by the client on the stimulus tape. Initial findings indicated that this instrument has promising reliability and validity and warrants further development and application to the study of clinicians' memory of the interview process and interviewing skill training.

Client cognitive responses to counselor paradoxical and nonparadoxical directives

Client cognitive responses to counselor paradoxical and nonparadoxical directives were examined. It was predicted (a) that clients who received paradoxical symptom prescriptions would display a greater negativity toward the counselor and counseling than those who received nonparadoxical directives; and (b) that clients who received no rationale for the paradoxical directives would display a greater negativity than those who received a rationale. Thirty clients who had reported performance anxiety received one 45-minute counseling interview. Ten clients received paradoxical directives with a rationale, 10 received paradoxical directives with no rationale, and 10 received nonparadoxical directives. Results showed no significant differences in either client in-session negativity or out-of-session implementation of directives between the paradoxical and nonparadoxical conditions and between the rationale and no rationale paradoxical conditions. Possible implications of the findings are discussed.

The effects of cognitive complexity and arousal on client perception of counselor nonverbal behavior

This analogue study examined the interaction between cognitive complexity and arousal in client discrimination of counselor positive and negative nonverbal behavior. Thirty university students, divided into low, medium, and high arousal conditions, viewed a videotaped counseling interview in which the counselor nonverbal behaviors were varied systematically and then rated counselor perceived expertness. The results showed that subjects discriminated counselor positive and negative nonverbal behaviors in the early portion of a 30-minute interview, but this tendency deteriorated quickly as the interview progressed. Also, there was a significant interaction between subject cognitive complexity and arousal level. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Perception of theoretically derived counseling approaches as a function of preference for counseling orientation

Examined the relationship between preference for major counseling orientations and perception of counselor behavior in theoretically derived counseling interviews. Seventy-seven undergraduate students viewed demonstration interviews by Rogers and Lazarus, rated the counselor behavior on the Counselor Rating Form, and were assessed in their endorsement of seven major counseling orientations. A regression analysis performed on the preference scores for seven counseling orientations (predictors) in response to the counselor perception scores on the Counselor Rating Form showed a significant relationship only between the client-centered orientation and Rogers. Lazarus was not predicted from any of the seven orientations. Additional analysis of the Counselor Rating Form data revealed that Lazarus was perceived as more expert, attractive, and trustworthy than Rogers. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies.

Programmed learning in the microtraining paradigm with hotline workers

Twenty-five hotline workers were randomly assigned to three skill-training conditions. Nine microtraining subjects were trained in the use of attending behavior, open inquiry, and reflection of feeling and content using the standard microtraining paradigm. Seven programmed-learning subjects were trained in the same skills using programmed manuals and role-play interviews with feedback. The remaining nine subjects acted as a no-training control group. Pretraining and post-training interviews and telephone calls with pseudoclients were audiotaped for each subject. Subjects were assessed on empathy, the Therapist Error Checklist, attending behavior, and three modes of skill interaction. For interviews the main effect of training on each measure was significant. Both microtraining and programmed learning resulted in superior interview performance over no-training, and differed little from each other. For telephone calls microtraining resulted in higher empathy ratings than progammed learning or no-training.