Increasing Verbal Empathy as a Function of Feedback and Instruction

Counselor-trainee response uncertainty and delayed supervisor feedback are two apparent difficulties when looking at the normal practicum procedures from a learning theory frame of reference. Twenty-four counselor trainees were randomly assigned to three experimental groups and one control group, i.e., immediate feedback, feedback and instructions, equipment present, and control. Audio tapes pre- and post-were selected and rated on empathy. An analysis of variance on the pre- and post-differences in ratings was computed resulting in a significant F-ratio (p < .05). Subsequent multiple comparisons showed all experimental groups significant when compared to the control group (p < .01) The results showed that all experimental conditions increased counselor trainees' empathic responses significantly.     

The Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale: A Valid Criterion of Counselor Effectiveness?

Should the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scale (CERS) be used as a criterion measure of counselor effectiveness in studies attempting to identify correlates of counselor effectiveness? The validity of recent recommendations regarding the use of certain factors of the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) to select persons for counselor training programs, where the CERS was the criterion measure, is challenged. Relationships between the three scales of the CERS and levels of empathy, respect, and empathy offered in a counseling relationship were investigated; only one of the hypothesized relationships was found (p < .05).     

The Drama of Prejudice

Empathic communication is regarded as one of the most important abilities for social workers and health professionals in their work with clients. in this study one group of social worker students who participated in a 3 month course of intensive communication skills training was compared to a group of students following the ordinary social work course of study. The groups were compared in relation to communicated empathy as measured on the Carkhuff Scale of Empathic Communication before and after the training period. The analysis showed that students who participated in the skill training program increased their level of empathic communication significantly. The control group did not increase their level. The results are discussed and compared with the results of other published studies on the effect of communication training on the level of communicated empathy.     

Effects of Supervised Counseling on Dominance

To ascertain the effects of supervised counselor experience on measures of dominance, graduate students were drawn from three departments at the University of Illinois, Urbana, and given the dominance and self-acceptance scales of the California Psychological Inventory and the California Fascism Scale. In the analysis of variance, the experimental group scored significantly higher (p <.05) on dominance than did the control group from pretest to posttest, and the correlation between dominance and self-acceptance was. 66 (p<. 01). The correlation between dominance and fascism was not significantly different from zero. When the effects of participants' additional counselor (or teacher) experience were partialed out of posttest dominance scores, the results were not significantly changed. The results implied that a supervised counseling practicum effected more of an increase in participants' feelings of well-being than did other counselor (or teacher) experience.     

Modeling,Praise, and Criticism in Teaching Empathic Responding

This study employs a factorial design to investigate the efficacy of all possible combinations of modeling, praise, and criticism as a means of teaching empathic responding to counselor trainees. Measures of empathy were taken on 64 female introductory psychology students at the beginning of an experimental session and following each of two training segments. Results indicate a significant effect for modeling and stage of training. There was a significant interaction between modeling and stage of training such that subjects in the modeling conditions were rated higher in empathy than those in the no-modeling condition at the mid- and postmeasure but not at the premeasure. Results are in agreement with one previously published study but are inconsistent with two others. Discussion focuses on the critical elements of effective feedback techniques.     

Using Film to Increase Counselor Empathic Experiences

The early stages of empathy in counseling—emotional reaction, role-taking, and cognitive suspension—have all been largely ignored in the counselor education/psychological literature. This article describes these stages from the perspective of the aesthetic/film literatures. Emotional reaction is an internal, unobservable state of being. Role-taking involves cognitive understanding and entering the perceptual world of another. Cognitive suspension means letting go of personal beliefs and values. The film literature describes how audience emotional states are created by directors, writers, actors, and editors. This article explains how counselor educators and supervisors can use this information to help counselors increase their empathic experiences.     

A Study of the Effects of Group Sensitivity Training with Student Counselor-Consultants

The use of group sensitivity training within a counselor education program was studied. It was hypothesized that participation would have a positive effect on participant self-concept, would increase the effectiveness of the participants in emitting the core dimensions of empathy, warmth, and genuineness during counseling, and would make the participants more effective in offering the core dimensions in counseling than would be members of a control group who did not receive such training. Members of a National Defense Education Act Institute for Counselor-Consultants were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. Measurements consisted of a self-report on self-concept and independent ratings of audiotapes based upon the core dimensions. Analysis of the data did not reveal significant findings, thus the hypotheses were not supported.     

Effects of Feedback on Beginning Counseling Students

This study investigated the effects of feedback on the discrepancy between real and ideal self-concepts of 28 beginning counseling students. Subjects in the experimental group had three sessions with a counselor and received feedback concerning their personal characteristics and how these might relate to a counseling career; the goal of this feedback was to increase counseling students' awareness of their feelings about themselves and to encourage them to look at themselves. An analysis of covariance indicated that the experimental group showed a significantly greater change toward more congruence in perception of self and ideal self than did the control group. Implications for counselor preparation programs are discussed.     

Self-Instructional Modules: Comparison of Modeling and Feedback Media

This study addressed the effectiveness and efficiency issues in a self-instructional learning activity in counselor training. The study specifically examined three media (written, audio, and video) of model and of self-generated performance feedback presentation. There were no differences in trainee production of counselor tacting response leads because of media of model or media of performance feedback presentation. Results, however, did indicate that learning is significantly enhanced when a written performance feedback component is added to a written modeling component. The same did not hold true for audio and video presentations. The implications of these cost- and labor-efficient instructional packages are discussed.     

Effects of Short-Term Training On Residence Hall Assistants

Inasmuch as undergraduate residence hall assistants are being called upon more frequently to counsel students in social-personal problems and little training specific to this function has been given in the past, there is a need to develop an effective but brief training program leading to increased counseling effectiveness. Six hours of specialized training which focused on counselor accurate empathy enabled eight randomly chosen undergraduate resident assistants to increase their levels of accurate empathy significantly higher than a matched control group which received no training. In addition, the experimental Ss also demonstrated somewhat higher levels of counselor warmth.     

A Method of Self-Evaluation for Counselor Education Utilizing the Measurement of Facilitative Condition

A pretest-posttest control group design was used to test the value of employing four psychotherapeutic interaction scales for self-evaluation. The counselor-offered conditions of empathy, non-possessive warmth, genuineness, and intensity of interpersonal contact were self-evaluated by 44 counselors following their counseling interviews. These evaluations were compared with supervisors' evaluations of the tape recorded sessions. Findings showed that (a) the gain in offered therapeutic conditions was significant on all scales for the experimental group but on only two scales for the control group; (b) the amount of gain for the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group on only one scale (Empathy); (c) counselor/supervisor evaluations showed highly significant concurrent validity; and (d) basic counselor personality orientations such as self-concept strength and defensiveness generally showed no correlation with accuracy of self-evaluation on the scales.     

Finger Blood Volume Responses of Counselors,Counselor Trainees,and Non-Counselors to Stimuli from an Empathy Test

Measures of 4 physiological variables were obtained while 30 counselors, 30 counselor trainees, and 30 graduate science majors were evaluating a series of dramatic dialogs and slides taken from an empathy test. Significantly more vasoconstriction, indicative of arousal, was observed in the counselors and counselor trainees than in the science majors. This finding is consistent with the proposal that empathy is related to physiological responses and serves as contributing evidence for criteria in the selection, training, and evaluation of counselors.     

Relativistic Thought: A Cognitive Basis for Empathy in Counseling

Relativistic epistemological thought was positively related to aspects of counselor empathy, both in role-played counseling sessions by student counselors and in a written empathy measure.     

Building cultural empathy and deconstructing Whiteness in counselor education

Counselor training that does not attend to dynamics of cultural differences and oppression can run the risk of promoting false empathy that serves the voyeuristic purpose of the counselor rather than achieving accurate empathy for the client. In this article, we discuss the differences between true and false empathy and how Whiteness, racial identity and culture, and classroom dynamics can impact the ability to engage in cultural empathy development. We present a model for cultural empathy training that attends to each of these dynamics.     

Moral Development and Empathy in Counseling

Of interest to counselor educators are variables associated with helper empathy. The authors investigated the relationship between empathy and moral development. Students enrolled in a facilitative skills development course completed a measure of moral development before making their first counseling audiotape. After approximately 12 weeks of skills training, they were subsequently rated for their demonstration of empathic understanding to client statements on an analog videotape and on a counseling audiotape made for their course evaluation. Empathy ratings of their responses to the analog videotape correlated .61 (p < .001) with moral development scores and .35 (p < .05) with supervisory empathy ratings of their final audiotape and moral development scores. Implications for counselor education are discussed.     

Counselor Comfort,Counseling Climate,and Client Satisfaction: Client Ratings and Academic Improvement

This study examined client perceptions of counselor comfort, counseling climate, and client satisfaction as measured by the CEI relative to counselors described as high-effective or low-effective in terms of changes in client academic performance before and after group counseling. The results indicated that the client's perception of the comfort of the counselor in a group setting is significantly related to counselor effectiveness as measured by GPA change. The overall counseling climate and the client's estimate of his satisfaction were found not to be related to counselor effectiveness.     

Mindfulness‐Based Awareness and Compassion: Predictors of Counselor Empathy and Anxiety

Mindfulness‐based awareness and compassion were examined as predictors of empathy and anxiety among 152 master's‐level counseling interns. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis supported that awareness and compassion differentially contributed to explaining the variance in counselor empathy and anxiety. Implications for counselor education are discussed.     

Effects of Verbal Interaction Analysis Training with Counseling Practicum Students

This article investigates differences in counselor verbal style and type of counselee talk in two groups of counselor trainees. The first group consisted of 15 counselor trainees who received a training program with an Amidon-type Verbal Interaction Analysis System; the second group was a control group of 15 counselor trainees who received no interaction analysis training as part of a semester-long counseling practicum. The results indicated that the counselors receiving interaction analysis training tended to talk less and Use indirect influence techniques more often than the counselor trainees in the control group. Clients of the counselors in the experimental group tended to talk more often and use more self-initiated talk than did the clients of counselors in the control group.     

The Effects of Professional Counselor Training on Empathy: Continued Cause for Concern

The evidence reviewed, especially that from the most methodologically sound studies, indicates that professional training in counseling generally fails to increase trainees' empathy. Further, professional status may establish social distance between counselor and client, and posttraining experience in counseling cannot be counted on to have uniformly positive, empathy-enhancing effects. The review points to the needs for: (a) the incorporation into professional programs of brief, effective empathy-skills training, (b) supplementing intellectual program selection methods with more counseling-relevant measures, (c) defining and upgrading of acceptable posttraining empathy levels and retention of training effects, and (d) research into differences between professional programs that do and do not enhance empathy.     

Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Aggressive Boys: Implications for Counseling

The purpose of the study was to explorecognitive and affective empathy in aggressiveboys. A difference between aggressive boys andtheir non-aggressive peers was anticipated,particularly in affective empathy. Fifty-twoboys (25 aggressive and 27 non-aggressive) werecompared for levels of aggression and forcognitive and affective empathy as expressedduring a group interview involvingbibliotherapy. Results confirmed the mainhypothesis; that is, aggressive boys showed alower level of affective empathy, although thegroups did not differ in cognitive empathy. Theproportion of affective empathy amongnon-aggressive boys was double that amongaggressive children. Affective empathy seems toincrease with age, although this result wasinconsistent. The aggressive boys also showed ahigher level of endorsing aggression. Thediscussion focuses on implications forcounseling aggressive boys.