THE CLIENTS PERCEPTION 0F THERAPIST POTENCY AND CHANGES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY THESIS FOR THE DEGREE or PH. 0. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY NICHOLAS l. BORBEL'LI I 9 6 5 ' :1 LI] mu; ”gm my p)" (IT WILL" mg n; . ,,._ fl A i LIB RAR Y. 1 g Michigan State ,3 University I .- l 0V FINE : 25¢ per day per it. RETURNIIG LIBRARY HATER“ Place in book return to I charge fm circulation l h ~~ ABSTRACT THE CLIENT '8 PERCEPTION 0F THERAPIST POTENCY AND CHANGES IN PSYCHOTHERAPY By Nicholas J. Borrelli The primary purpose of this study was to test the "thypothes is that there is direct relationship between client 's perception of therapist potency and changes in psychotherapy. Past research and availability of relevant data suggested two secondary functions: (1) the invest- - “ igation of relationships between client 's perception of therapist activeness and client 's evaluation of the therapist and changes in psychotherapy; and (2) the inves- _ tigation of relationships between client 's perception of counselor-client similarity in potency, activeness and evaluation and changes in psychotherapy . I Clients were twenty-six self-referred 11.8.0. undergraduates fifteen females and eleven males , who had been seen at the 11.8.0. Counseling Center for personal- social counseling for a median of fifteen interviews. Therapists were primarily relationship-therapy oriented and were either practicum students, interns or regular Counseling Center staff members. ; - ’ Nicholas J. Borrelli‘ Client 's perception of therapist variables was obtained from _S_'s Semantic Differential factor scores on the concept ”counselor". Client 's perception of counselor- 'client similarities was obtained by subtracting "counselor“ , factor scores from the concept "one" factor scores. Client. changes were. based upon the differences between pre-and post-therapy scale scores on the as, D , Hy, .Pt and Se WI scales (C. I. 8.). One-tailed rank order correlations were computed to determine the degree of relationship between the potency ’ variable and each of the remaining perceptual variables and the C. I. S. The results of this initial analysis failed to support the major hypothesis or any of the secondary hypotheses . A more refined data analysis was undertaken in which rank order correlations were computed between the potency variable and each of the remaining per- ceptual variables and change scores for the‘ five individual MMPI. scales. The results supported the major hypothesis of .a direct relationship between client perception of therapist potency and changes on the By scale at the .05 level. This ' result was interpreted as being in general agreement with the Ken-Mueller (1965) view of clients with hysteroid . features. 0 None of the five secondary hypotheses were supported. However, the; results of earlier studies- testing the relation- 5 Nicholas J. Borrelli ship of perception of therapist evaluation and therapist activity to change, were reinterpreted as being in general agreement with the findings of the present study. Methodological difficulties in the present ' study were discussed and suggestions made for future research testing hypotheses similar to those of this study. THE CLIENT'S PERCEPTION or THERAPIST mm AND CHANGES in Psrcnommrx 4 i . By T N1¢h°1a8 Je 301372111 A.THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in.partial fulfillment of the requirements fer the degree of C DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Psychology" . if /. ';fkés ' ”.3 .965 nu)” DEDICATION \ To, my wife Pat - I i I l I l J I x i . f ~- ' .3- .M..- o .— ACKNOWIEDGMENTS The author wishes to express his deep appre- ciation to his comittee chairman, Dr. Bill Nell, and to his comittee members, Dr. Josephine- Norse, Dr. Charles Henley and Dr. Norman Abeles whose individual and collec- tive efforts and continuing encouragement proved invaluable in the completion of this thesis. A very special thanks also to Dr. William Mueller for his many helpful suggestions regarding the design and implementation of this study. w. TABLE OF CONTENTS . Page :ACKNONLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .f. . . . ii LISTOPTABLES.................:.... v LIST 0P APPENDICES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5. . . . ' vi INTRODUCTION . .~. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Purpose of the Study . . . . . . . . .é. °.; . - BACKGROUND OF THEORX AND RESEARCH . . . . .”. .f. . . .~ . Therapist Potency . Therapist ACt1v1ty e e e e e e e , e A e e, e ' e : I : Therap is t Eva. 1118f. ion e e e 0 e e e e e e e e e e e Client -Couns €10: Similarity . 0 0 0 o o o e .. e e e e HYPWSES TESTED O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O A O O O 0 WD 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O" O O O O The Sample? . .‘. . . . . . . PHDGMU «u as OHJUM§ s- F‘ rd mstmentSeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee The Semantic Differential o.- . . . . . . . . . 1 Them: RESULTS DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .S. . . . . . . APPENDICES h) ha en PI ha «I a: \o In To iv TABLE 1. . 2. ' 3. my‘ - LIST OF TABLES Rank order correlations for hypotheses 2-6. Rank order correlations for tests of hypotheses 2-6 across five MMPI scales . . Factor loadings, means and standard deviations for combined concepts 'Tne" and "counselor" . . . . . . . . . . . Sunmary of results of studies on HHPI test-retest reliability‘with college or 'psychiatric populations . . . . . . . . . Page 13 15 30 32 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX. Page As ' The Semantic Differential . . . . . . . . . . . 28 B.TheMMPI.................j.. 31 C. Results of studies on.MMPI scale value changes following psychotherapy . . . . . . . - 33 D. Rank orders for tests of hypotheses 1-6 . . . 36 E. Mean Change scores and variances of five - MMPI scales for Kaufman test-retest control , group and Borrelli experimental group . . . . 37 . P. Change rank.orders for five NNPI scales I. . . , 38 vi 1" Introduction f The major purpose of this study was to test an ‘hypothesis generated by the author's clinical experience. 'The author had noted in his own and his colleagues' therapy contacts, that a particular kind of client- perception of the therapist was likely to lead to client improvement. The author defined this interaction as potency perception since clients invariably seemed to respond to therapists on the basis gfjgome quality of perceived strength. - ":;Pwhat-eLiCited and maintained a potency perception varied y"“ “.1, .from client to client and included such therapist features “as knowledgeability, power, ability to tolerate anxiety, ability to control client's aggressive feelings, or in short, any quality of psychological strength.meaningfu1 to the client. The significance of the potency perception, however, seemed to be universal for clients in that it pro- vided the client with a kind of external stability against which he could allow himself to experience greater affect and within which he could experiment with new behavioral patterns. The author's observations suggested that a direct relationship might exist between perception of counselor potency and change in psychotherapy; that is, that the greater 2 ”the perceived therapist potency, the greater the positive ‘change ,in the client, and conversely, the less the per- ceived potency the less the poo itive change. It remained then only to state these observations and tentative con- clusions in testable form. hence, the primary purpose of this study, which was to test the hypothesis of a direct relationship between client '8 perception of therapist potency. and' 'changes in psychotherapy . Availability of relevant data made it additionally possible to test secondary client-perceptual hypotheses suggested by previous research or the data itself. Some of the 'studies cited in the review below, for example, imply ‘- a' direct relationship between both therapist's activeness and client evaluation of the therapist and change in psycho-=- therapy. This author 's position, however, is that the above \ stated relationships are of secondary importance to percep- tion of therapist potency. The rationale for this view is that mere activity per se contributes little to client change since therapist activity can sometimes be defensive, partic- ularly when it is prompted by client's attempts to manipulate the therapist . Likewise, positive client evaluation of the therapist, in the author 's experience, in itself is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for client change. This seems. particularly evident when one considers the fact that negative transference need not necessarily mitigate against client gains . Conceivably, what can make both these client perceptions important to client gains ,. however, is the degree . " ‘ -1’: If. -°~.:. . '4 9’ C 3 to which they have some comonality with the potency function - that is when, for example, therapist activity is also regarded by the client as indicative of therapiet potency. Insofar as this linkage occurs, 3, would then expect evaluation and activity to be related to client changes, but not necessarily otherwise. In the review of . the literature below, the reader may note that activity alone was never related to therapy change. Rather, in all the activity studies , it was activity in conjunction with an additional therapist quality which was related to change - e.g. in the Griggs and Goldstein study (1957) the additional quality was therapist 'directiveness . At a mininnm, this suggests the probable contamination of the activity measure - possibly, by a‘ measure of potency. I J Th'e(_data alsoéent itself _to testing of hypo-=- ‘thresé‘s't‘regarding "the. relationship of client-counselor ,8 imilarity to change. The research reported below is mixed ‘ b‘ concerning these relationships . E's intent here was to explore the relationship of counselor-client similarity to change insofar as the data permitted, using a somewhat differ- ent methodology than had been previously employed. . . . The present study ' then had in addition to its prim- ary function, ‘two secondary functions; (1) tW'exmfit‘ion ‘ ._of relationships between client's view of therapist's activity and client 's evaluation of the therapist and changes in psycho- . therapy; and (2) the exploration of client's perceptions of client-counselor similarities and the relation of these 4 perceptions to therapy changes. (Note: Throughout this study the terms counselor 'and therapist , and the words counseling and psychotherapy, are used interchangeably). Background Theog and Research -_- _ . , Rogers (1952) considers the client's perception of the therapist's attitudes and procedures to be of " “r“ crucial importance in psychotherapy. In the discussion '. ‘ 'T-below I; shall sumarize theory and research related to the ~ ~——- _dimensions of client perception with which this study. is concerned. Potency: A J! 1 With regard to the potency variable, several T; ’ authors stress the necessity of the clients perceiving the therapist as possessing social power and/or power by virtue of superior knowledge in order to establish a therapeutic relationship (Borilari and Asnaourow, 1932; . Maeder, 1955; Stransky, 1940' Cartwright‘a'nd Cartwright {(1958) concede that blind faith in the therapist '3 power to ~ A help may possibly be important for client changes , while ‘1 Nell and, Mueller (1965) argue that clientc-perceived counselor “-t strength is a prerequisite for client improvement . . _ W The Rosen et. a1. study (1961) lends some credence to the above assertions by demonstrating that people whe arex ' ‘ seen as‘ helpful (therapistsl), "are also seen ae possessing ' ' power . Further Support comes from Mulder (1960) who demon- strated that in certain interpersonal situations people will ' I I v~ ._ 5 tend to identify with more powerful others , leading to both behavioral and perceptual changes. Finally, the Dana study (1954) reports upon the differential effects of ' attitudes toward authority on therapy success--adequate atti- tudes leading to greatest success. Activity: I . Rogers (1952) feels it essential that the thera- pist be perceived‘as more than just a passive listener for client changes to occur. Studies relating to this thera- pist function almost universally report positive relation- ships between therapist activity and psychotherapy success. Rogers' (1952) sumary of several studies showed that the most helpful physicians (be. in terms of Psychotherapy ~success rates) were active and participated personally in .the treatmentprocess. Griggs and Goldstein (1957) demon- strated that psychotherapy was judged more suCcessful by the client if counselors were active and somewhat directive than if counselors were seen as passive listeners . Similarly, Overall and Aronson (1963) conclude that when therapists didn't fulfill client's expectations of being active but . permissive, clients were less likely to return to treatment. .W= A logical extension of the foregoing theory and research.would suggest that when client's overall evaluation of the therapist is positive, successful therapy is more likely to occur. Sapolsky's (1965) finding of a positive correlation between patient 's high evaluation factor scores \ ‘ N 6 (i.e. with the Semantic Differential) on the concept "doctor" and patient improvement following several kinds of thera- peutic programs , lends some support to the above assert ion. Client-Therapist Sigilarity: Theory and supporting evidence regarding the relationship between client-therapist similarity to treat- ment progress is mixed. Moreover, the bulk of the reported research relates to actual, rather than client-perceived similarities. Mendelsohn and Geller (1965), for example, _ found a positive relationship between client-counselor simil- \arity as measured by the Myer-Briggs Type Indicator and ‘ client-perceived comfort-rapport in therapy for one sample, but not for another. Ourth (1964) , however, found no relation- ship between client-counselor similarity as measured by the author's own instrument (i.e. the External-Internal Orient- ation Measure) and either stay or improvement in psycho- therapy. CarSon and Heine (1962) found a curvilinear effect when dyad similarity was measured by the m1 . The one study dealing specifically with client-perceived similar- ities (Sapolsky, 1965), demonstrated a positive and signifi- cant relationship between therapist-client similarity, as measured by the Semantic Differential activity and evaluation factor scores , and psychotherapy improvement . he e e The theoretical viewpoints and research evidence cited above, '“albeit at times indirectly, supports E's position 3.; s: o iii-v12}; regard to the importhnCe of the potency variable to client change. ‘This position stated in testable form is ,,..V’ as follows: . Maj g; Hymthgs is l. Client's perception of therapist's potency is directly related to client changes in psychotherapy . The foregoing review also suggested the following secondary hypotheses to be tested: 2. 3. 5. 3‘6. Ihg Samplg: Client perceived counselor-client similarity in potency is directly related to client changes in psychotherapy. Client's perception of therapist's activeness is directly related to client changes in psychotherapy. ‘ Client-perceived counselor-client similarity in activeness is directly related to client changes in psychotherapy. Client's positive evaluation.of his therapist is directly related to client changes in psychotherapy. Client-perceived counselor-client similarity . in evaluation is directly relatedfto changes in psychotherapy. mags Some of (the data employed in this study were also - used in an ongoing research project at the M.S.U. Counseling ' Center. As 'a part of the Counseling Center project a group of fifty-four counselees were given a form of the Semantic IfDifferential before therapy, after every fourth interview, and at termination. S; were. asked to respond on the basis . of sixteen scales to twenty-one concepts, among which were the concepts "counselor" and "me". MMPI profiles were also obtained for some of the fifty-four S; in the Counseling Center project before the first therapy contact and at ‘ termination. . ‘ For this study's. purposes, 1.1 selected only those §g from the Counseling Center project for whom both the Semantic Differential data and the preéand post-therapy MMPI -' profiles were available. The final usable sample consisted of twenty-six self-referred M.S.U. undergraduates, eleven males and fifteen females, who had been seenfor personal- social cOunseling by either a practicum student , an intern for a regular Counseling Center staff member. Clients had a \ median of fifteen counseling interviews. Therapists were . fifteen males and seven females ‘and were primarily relationship- ' _ therapy oriented . inggruments: :he Semantic Differential Measures of client's perception of therapist . variables and of client-perceived counselor-client simil- arities were obtained from §_'_p_ Semantic Differential responses .1 . to the concepts "counselor" and "me". Whenever possible, . i used 8 '3 post-therapy Semantic Differential administration \ - HW__‘-._I 9 to obtain the: above measurements. When this was not poss- ' ‘ible -- i.e. When {i had no post-therapy Semantic Differ- h‘ntial -- i used §_'_§ Semantic Differential administration ' ‘which was Closest in time prior to therapy termination. .- (See Apendix A for a more complete description of the Seman- '- tic Differential). . Although Osgood et. al. (1957) provide tables 2 " showing the factorial meaning of a number of scales used in this study, i; thought it desirable to establish the particu- lar factorial structure of all the scales used in this study ,for this 'particular study sample. To this and g combined the concepts "counselor" and 'he" and factor analyzed (Principal . Factor Solution with Quartimax Rotation Method) the Semantic . Differential responses to both concepts of a11.§_s_ from the Counseling Center project sample of fifty-four counselees who had at least three consecutive Semantic, Differential administrations (NQAO; 240 observations on 16 scales). The factorial meaning of the scales thus established is as follows: potency scales - large-small, thin-thick; evaluation scaieg - - . easy-difficult, optimistic-pessimistic, free-constrained, fair- unfair, bad-good, destructive-productive, changing-stable, safe-dangerous; activity §cale§ - colorless-colorful, sharp- _ dull, active-passive, slow-fast. Two scales - modest-vain and weak-strong ‘- did not load clearly on any of the factors w and hence were excluded from the study. The fourteen scales , us ed in this study together with their factor loadings are reported in Appendix A, table 3. " . r 10 ‘ To test the study hypotheses, it was necessary to obtain: (1) factor scores on the "counselor" concept for ;each g foreach of the three factors (i.e. potency, .activity... . and! evaluation); and (2) factor score differences between . the" 'counselor" and 'he" concepts for each S for each of the three factors.' Four steps were needed to obtain §_P_._' factor scores. 'First, as outlined above, data‘composed of forty §_s_' ‘responses to the concepts "me" and "counselor" were factor analyzed and the factor solution for each of the three factors Robtained for the combined concepts. The next step ..was to . dev'iate the raw scale score of each _S_ in the sample from the normative group mean for each particular scale and divide by the normative group standard deviation appropriate to that particular scale. This yielded a z score. Next, the Z ”.7, - score for eath _S_ for each scale was multiplied by the factor ' 'fi loading of that particular scale according to the formula W, TieT-Trz (Thomson, 1951) . This yields a factor score for each §_ on each scale. The final step was to sum across these "factorescgres for each g for each of the three factors for the cheeks "counselor" and "me". In this instance, the -.. higher the WtotaL the greater the client's per- ‘ception of the variable measured- e.g. the greater the potency. factor score on the "counselor" concept, the greater the degree of potency the client attributes to the counselor. Each of the ~ three factor score totals for the "counselor" concept were / then independently ranked in descending order (see Appendix D). Q ll 3 Osgood's (1957) D score was used as the measure '7' of. client-perceived-similarity between himself and his "therapist. D scores were obtained by subtracting the - client's Z-transformed scale scores on the concept "me" from his Z-transformed scale scores on the concept "counselor" and sunning these differences across each scale. glrepeated. . this .operation for each of the three factors which yielded a factor score difference total for each factor. In this case, the smaller the factor score difference total (D), the greater the degree of client-perceived similarity between client and counselor. D scores for each factor were then 3. . ranked in ascending order (see Appendix D). 0 ‘ :The MP; Research across differing Qtypes of therapy and kinds of clients has shown that some MMPI scales are more . sensitive measures of psychotherapy change than others (see Appendix C). Using the above empirical rationale as the . selection Criterion then, only five MMPI scales were in- corporated into the study. A ' ‘ Measures of change were obtained by subtracting the . / post-from the pre-therapy MMPI scale scores for each client on the D, Pt, Sc, Na and By scales. In all cases 5 was looking for changes in psychotherapy. Thus , when, for example , an if; post-therapy scale score became elevated, indicating " negative change , the . score was given a negative sign and the difference between the pre-and post-therapy scale scores taken. . When a post-therapy scale score was depressed, indicating I . ’ 12 . positive change, the difference score was given a positive sign. Accordingly, the difference scores for each S across the five MMPI scales were added algebraically so that the ‘ ‘" higher the total, the greater positive change in a Client. In addition, E, thought it advisable that account be taken ew:»fi”‘ofthe number of changing scales as well as the absolute magnitude of change. Thus , the author took the mean of the N scale unit changes across the five scales and multiplied this mean by the number of changing scales. Adding this - total to the algebraic sumation total yielded the final measure of change - the Change Index Score (C. I. 8.), which again, was greater the greater the positive‘change in clients. Change Index Scores were then ranked in descending order (see Appendix D). . Result; _ The data subjected to statistical analysis consisted of: (1) three rank orders based upon factor scores, indicating client's perception of counselor's potency, evaluation and activity - one rank ordering for each of the ‘. factors; (2) three D score rank orders, indicating client- . perceived counselor-client similarity along~the three Seman- ticéDifferential factors; and (3) a rank order of client Change Index Scores. One tailed rank order correlations (Siegel,'l956) were computed to determine the degree of relationship between the potency variable and each of the remaining clienteperceptual 13 variables and change index scores . In order to test the major hypothesis, a rank order correlation was computed . between the rank ordering of the potency factor scores and - A. the rank ordering of the Change Index Scores. The resultant correlation of .231 was not significant at the .05 level. Testing of secondary hypotheses two through six ‘ “proceeded in identical fashion as described above. The results of these computations , none of which yielded corre- lations significant at the .05 level are presented in Table 1 below. ~ TABLE 1 . RANK ORDER CORRELATIONS FOR NYPOTNESES 2-6 . Nyp. II Clientaperceived counselor-client . . similarity in potency by C. I. S. - .061 Hyp. III Client's perception of therapist's . activeness by C. I. S. - .025 Hyp. IV Clientwperceived counselor-client , . similarity in activeness by C. I. S. . .164 Hyp . V Client' 3 evaluation of therapist . by C. I. S. .052 llyp. VI Client'-perceived counselor-=client similarity in evaluation by C. I. S. .001 Although significant results were not obtained in \ . the foregoing data analysis, the presence of a supporting trend for the major hypothesis suggested that a more refined analysis of the data might be of value. The author felt that the effect of combining the individual MMPI change scale scores into a composite change score (i.e. the C. I. S.) was to obscure f ‘~‘_ 14 the individual relationships of the.MMPI scales to the ‘perceptual variables. The finding of a supporting trend thus recommended that a test of the study hypotheses using individual MMPI scale change scores as the criterion of change would be in order. The reduction of the C. I. S. into its component scales was of additional value in that it allowed‘gythe means to demonstrate that client changes were attributable to psychotherapy and were not merely random changes. This demonstration'was attempted by comparing the change score variances for the five MMPI scales used in this study to those of a control group used_in another study (Kaufman, 1950). These comparisons are presented in Appendix E. ' Using the above rationale, §,reduced the C. I. S. into its component scales and computed rank order correlations between the potency variable and each of the secondary variables and change scale scores for each of the five individual MMPI scales. (Change rank.orders for the five.MMPI scales are reported in Appendix F). The results of these computations yielded rank order correlations significant at the .05 and .10 levels between client's perception of therapist potency and the My and Pt scales respectively. Correlations of .103, .137 and .055 were also obtained between the potency variable and the Rs, D, and Sc scales, none of which were significant at the .05 level. 15 None of the rank order correlations for, second-H, ary hypotheses two through six were significant . :These corre- ,‘ ‘s \ lations are reported in Table two below. TABLE 2 RANK ORDER CORRELATIONS FOR TESTS OF HYPOTHESES 2-6 . ACROSS FIVE MMPI SCALES. . Nypothes is 3 MMPI Scale ‘ a" Na D 'Hy . Pt Sc Hyp . II Client c-perceived . counselor-client similarity in potency .098 -.154 .022 -.l6l -.062 Hyp. III Client's perception of ' therapist activeness -.101 -.005-.068 .096 -.014 Hyp. IV Clienteperceived counselor-client . similarity in . . 4 , ~ aetiveness - - . .-.095 . e110 e152 0099 e015 A Hyp. V Client's evaluation - . " ‘ -g; ,ef .. 'of therapist .-~;. «043“ .244..073 .144 .008 ’ Hyp. VI Clienteperceived , counselor-client ’ similarity in ' My evaluation -.105 .085-.307 -.033 .108 Miss. The results obtained in the more refined analysis of the data lends partial support to the major hypothesis of a direct relationship between client 's perception of therapist potency and changes in psychotherapy. The failure to obtain confirmation for this hypotheses across all five MMPI scales, however, leads ,1; to suspect that perception of counselor potency has a differential relationship across different areas ——-_ 16 j, of ~psychopathology. By this , i; simply means that the relation- ship of perception of. potency to change may vary depending upon the type or area of pathology being measured. Why this should be true may be a function of the dynmnic meaning of ‘ the pathology measured. One plausible explanation as to why this direct relationship holds for the Hysteria scale has to do with the Nell and Mueller (1965) view of clients with hysteroid features '. This view maintains that one of the central dynam- ics of such clients is anxiety arising out of fantasied sexual omnipotence. What is needed on the part of the thera- pist to counteract this anxiety is acknowledgment of the anxiety and some effective display of psychological strength (i.e. potency), which, in effect, lets the client know that . Controls are available. When the therapist is able to accomplish this , hysterical anxiety is likely to be reduced and positive change occurs . When this is not accomplished clients may become more anxious . The reader may observe that a direct relationship between two variables implies not only that increase in one variable is associated with increase in the other , but con- versely, that decreases in the two variables are likewise associated. The fact then that the present study did estab- lish a direct relationship between perception of potency and ‘ change on the Hysteria scale, corresponds quite readily with "“ ‘ the Roll-Mueller position, for it confirms their interpreta- tion of the meaning of therapist potency to both positive W 17 and negative client changes; that is, that perception of high therapist potency may effect positive client change and “that perception of low potency may accentuate client 's hysteroid features. The failure to findfsupport for any of the five ,jsecondary. hypotheses with Either ’of the data analyses 'requires additional explanation. Differences between the “present study and other studies testing similar hypotheses, in sample composition and size, methodology and adequacy of the data may partially account for the present study's nega- tive results -- particularly with regard to those hypotheses concerning relationships between counselor-client similarity and change. The failure to find support for a relationship , between perception of therapist activity or therapist evalu- ation and change, however, reinforces Q's view of the secondary importance of both these perceptual variables to potency perception. Recalling E's earlier cirticism of previous studies testing these relationships , the reader may remember that activity, in particular, was always coupled with a second therapist feature in its relation to client change . _E_ had implied that (this second therapist feature might in some way be a measure of therapist potency. In the present study, however, by means of factor analysis, 5 used as pure a measure of activity and evaluation as possible, yet i was unable to replicate the results of earlier studies relating activity or evaluation to change. Now, if E's . assumption concerning the probable contamination of activity 18 and evaluation with potency in earlier studies is correct, it may well be that earlier studies, like the present study, were measuring primarily a potency relationship, but merely - labeling it differently. In that case, the results of the present study would be in agreement with those of earlier studies . 1 While the author points particularly to inadequacy of the data as a contributing factor in the failure to support some of the secondary hypotheses, 5 also feels that the handling of the Semantic Differential data in this study is a more superior method of analysis than any the author has seen thus far. Future researchers attempting tests of hypo- theses similar to g's may find this methodology of particular value . The author suggests , however , that the investigator empirically establish the adjeCtival scales used in obtaining Semantic Differential factor scores . One way to implement this suggestion would be to allow a large sample of termin- . A ated psychotherapy clients to describe, either with adjectives or adj ectival phrases, the ways in which their therapists had been potent, active, etc. ' Comonalities in these. client des- criptions could be sought and these commonalities could then be used as the basis for forming adjectival scales to measure the three Semantic Differential factors. Two additional methodOlogical refinements seem necessary for adequate tests of hypotheses similar to those of the present study. The reader will recall that the rela- tion of perception of ' therapistf potency tokehange held for 19 the Hysteria scale, but not for any of the remaining four ' MMPI scales used in this study. This result suggests that the potency variable, as well, perhaps, as Other client- perceptual variables, may have a differential relationship to client change across different areas of psychopathology; that is , that the perceptual variable may be significantly related to change for some areas of psychopathology, but not necessarily related or less strongly related for other areas of psychopathology. With this probability in mind, future researchers may wish to allow for this variable ‘ 'relationship by controlling for diagnosis and testing per- ceptual hypotheses across varying kinds of diagnostic' groups. , Secondly, it would be.most desirable to use multiple criteria of client change whenever possible. This procedure allows §,to protect against a possible bias intro- duced by the use of any single estimate of Change alone. Sumagy The primary purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that there is direct relationship between client 's perception of therapist potency and changes in psychotherapy. Past research and availability of relevant data suggested two secondary functions: (1) the investigation of relationships between client 's perception of therapist activeness and client ' s evaluation of the therapist and changes in psycho- therapy; and (2) the investigation of relationships between 20 client's perception of counselor-client similarity in pot- ency , activeness and evaluation and change in psychotherapy. Clients were twenty-six self-referred M.S.U. undergraduates ,fifteen females and eleven males, who had been seen at the M.S.U. Counseling Center for‘personal- social counseling for a median of fifteen interviews. Thera- pis ts were primarily relationship-therapy oriented and were ., either. practicum students , interns or regular Counseling Center staff members. ‘ . Client '3 perception of therapist variables was obtained from g's Semantic Differential factor scores on the concept "counselor". Client's perception of counselor- \ client similarity was obtained by subtracting "counselor" . factor scores from the: concept 'me" factor scores . Client changes were based upon the differences between pre-and post- therapy scale scores on the Rs, D, Hy, Pt and Sc m1 scales (C. I. 8.). ‘ ' y-j ‘ - I - One-tailed rank order correlations were computed (to determine the degree of relationship between the potency variable and each of the remaining perceptual variables and the C. I. S. The results of this initial analysis failed to (Asupport the major hypothesis or any of the secondary hypo- ‘ theses. A more refined data analysis was undertaken in which rank" order correlations were cemputed beWeen the potency ‘ «(variable 3nd ea/Eh of the remaining perceptual variables and scores. for the five individual MMPI scales. The results — - II " If, A)" ; ’"fl‘ _w, A ”I ,z— 21 K supported the major hypothesis of a direct relation- ship between client perception of therapist potency and changes on the Hy scale at the .05 level. This result was interpreted as being in general agreement with the Ken-Mueller (1965) view of clients with hyster- oid features. . - None of the five secondary hypotheses were supported. However, the results of earlier studies testing the relationship of perception of therapist evaluation and therapist activity to change, were reinterpreted as being in general agreement with the findings of the present study. " Methodological difficulties in the present study were discussed and suggestions made for future research testing hypotheses similar .to.-.thoae.ofn. this .study. J . REFERENCES l Borilari, M. J. and Asnaourow, P. Sintonopsiquia y neurosis . (Snytonopsychia and neurosis). Rev. gpd. Latino-Ag§;., l932, 206. Abstract. ’ Carson, R. C. and Heine, R. W. Similarity and success in therapeutic dyads. J. consult. Psyghol., 1962, 26 (1), 38-43. ‘ Cartwright, D. S. and Cartwright, Rosalind D. Faith and ' improvement in psychotherapy. J. cougggl, Egychol., "* 1958, s, 174- 177. ‘ Dahlstrom, w. G. and Welsh, G. S. An.MMP; handbook: A ggide .fify to use in clinical practice and researc . Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1960. . Dana, R. H. The effects of attitudes towards authority on psychotherapy. . c n. hol , 1954, 10, 350-353. ' Ellis, A. in O. R. (ed.). Highland Park, New Jersey: The Gryphon Press, 1959. Gallagher, J . J. MMPI changes concomitant with client-centered _ therapy. J. ggnsulg. ngghol,, 1953, 17, 334-338. Gardner, Gail G. The psychotherapeutic relationship. m1. £311.. 1964. 61 (6). 426-439. g 5 22 23 ’ ' l .‘Gibson, 3. L., Snyder, w. u. and Ray, w. s. A factor 7 analysis of measures of change following client.- centered therapy. J, gougel, nggholn 1955, 2, . 83-90. Greenfield, N. 8. Personality patterns of patients before and after application for psychotherapy. J. co ult. P chol ,1958, 22, 280. Griggs, A. E. and Goodstein,‘ L. D. The use of clients as judges of the counselor's performance. J , gougelI szchol” 1957, 4, 31-36. Kaufman, P. Changes in the MP1 as a function of psychiatric therapy. J. consult, zgychol“ 1950, 14, 458-464. . Kell, B. L. and Mueller, W. J. Impact and ghggge: A study of. counseling rglatigmhipg. Century Psychology Series. New Yorszppleton Century-Crofts, 1965. Kleinmuntz, B. Annotated bibliography of MMPI research among ' college populations. W: 1962 :3 9, 373-396. ' -~ Maeder, A. "fiber die zwischenmeashliche Beziehung in der Psychotherapie. (Interpersonal relationships in psychotherapy-) WM- ’%“ paggagog,, 1955, 3, 242-500. Abstract. “”‘Mendelsohn, G. A. and Geller, M. 11. Structure of client attitudes toward counseling and their relation to client-counselor similarity. W, 1965, 29(1). 63-72. Mosak, H. H. Evaluation of psychotherapyzA study of some current measures . Unpublished Doctoral Disser. , 24 University Chicago, 1950 in 'MMPI changes con- conlnitant with client-centered therapy" by (Gallagher, J. J. WM,1953, 17, ' 334-338. I Mulder , M. The power variable in connunicat ion experiments . J. Hum. Relat.-, 1960, 13, 241-257. ./ Osgood, Cal-1., Suci G. J. and Tannenbaum, P. H. The meagugg- ment of meaning. University of Illinois Press , v" Urbana, Illinois, 1957. ~ -— \ Ourth, L. L. The relationship of similarity in therapist- . client pairs to client 's stay and improvement in / psychotherapy. Disser....Abstr., 1964, 24(9), 3839- 3840. ' Overall, Betty and Aronson, R. Expectations of psychotherapy . in patients of lower socio-economic class. Am_e_r_'_,_ J. Orthopsychiat., 1963, 33(3), 421-430. Parker, G. 'A. The predictive use of the MMPI in a college counseling center. J. gouggl, ngghg ,, 1961, 8, 154-158. ‘ Rashkis, B. A. and Shaskin, 9D. A. The effects of group therapy 'on personality scares; W. — e. l946,-?16,:343-349=."“'-" ‘ - r/ “I 7 Roger‘siC: R. The characteristics of a helping relationship. f,»””/ P r 0 e1 Gu J , 1952, 37, 6-16. 9 ”V Rosen, A. Test-retest stability of MMPI scales for a psych- iacric powlation- MW. 19.53. 17. 217-221. “ 25 .Rosen, S., Levinger, G. and Lippet, R. Perceived sources of social power. J. abnom, gag, ngQoln 1961, 62, I/ 439-441. ‘ ~ Sapolsky, A. Relationship between patient-doctor compatibil- ~ ity, mutual perception and outcome of treatment. I/ J. abnorm, Psychol., 1965, 70(1), 70-76. Schofield, W. Changes in responses to the IMPI following certain therapies. Psycho!" Mgnog“ 1950, 64, No. 5 (Whole no. 311). Schofield, W. Afurther study of the effects of therapies on MMPI responses. . ab 4 c 1 , 1953, 42, 67-77. Siegel, 8. Non ar tr c a t c or h b ha ora sgignceg, New York:McGraw-Hill Co., Inc., 1956. Stransky, E. Autoritat and Subordination in der psycho- therapie der verschiedenen Lefensphasen. (Authority and subordination in the psychotherapy of the -. various phases of life). MW, 1946, 58, 39-41. Abstract. ' Thomson, Sr. G. 23 fagtorigl analygig of human ability. (5th ed.) Boston:Houghton Mifflin and Co., 1951. Walker ,' Helen H. and Lev, J. Statigtigal mggengg. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1953. / Watt, G. D. An evaluation of non-directive counseling in the treatment of delinquents. . W, 1949, .42, 343-352. 26 Weiner, D. N. and Phillips, E. 1.. A study of progress in . psychotherapy. J. clin. chol., 1948, 4, 201-206. Welsh, G. S. "An anxiety index and an internalization ratio for.the MMPI“ in Basic Eeadings on thg mg; E psychology ang gediging by Welsh, G. S. and Dahlstrom, W. G. Minneapoliswniversity of Minn. Press,11956. /'\ . \ APPENDICES "u’v A /\ a " Appendix A Wig. The Semantic Differential was developed by Osgood and his associates (1957) as a research tool for the measurement of meaning. It is essentially a controlled association and scaling procedure wherein each concept to be differentiated. is rated on a series of seven point scales composed of polar opposite adjectives. §_'s task for each . scale is only to indicate the direction of his association and its intensity on the seven point scale. Continuing research on the Semantic Differential has led Osgood and his co-workers to conclude that the three primary factors--eva1uation, potency and activity--account for the great majority of the factorial structure operating in meaningful judgements . (To test the-generality of this .fagtorial structure, Osgood‘i‘t. a1. undertook several studies in which: they varied subjects , concepts , type of judgemental ,, situation used in collecting the data and method of factoring the data. In each case , the same three factors emerged in roughly the same order of magnitude. 4 3.211.921.1122: Reliability measures of the Semantic Differential generally are quite acceptable. Osgood et. el. (1957) report '28 \ - fla-- - - -q.o 29 test-retest coefficients ranging from .87 to .93 with a mean r of .91. Again, citing, the,.results of their own item reliability, check, .-the auth9é§ "report an rho test-retest , .“f’éorrfielation ofmj85.” Reported error measurements of the semantic differential on the average are .67 scale units-- yaw-”much. less than the expected deviation. Validity: . Reporting on the general validity of the instru- ment , the authors cite as evidence many instances where validity criteria of specific sorts‘are available--e.g. eval- uative location of the T. A. T. pictures judged by §_§, against the Semantic Differential were found to correlate significantly with clinical judgements of stories told about the pictures by the same is. A validity estimate of the 1 instrument 's factorial structure is obtained in the demon- stration that representation of concepts by the Semantic ‘ Differential reveals essentially comparable structures as yielded from the method of trials. Finally, other validity measures were obtained by comparing the Semantic Differential with the Thurstone and Guttman scales , which yielded corre- lations of the order .90 and .78." 1 _ i' .. 1' DEPARTMENT or PSYCHOLOGY 30 MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN Appendix A (Continued) TABLE 3 FACTOR LOADINGS, DEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THE COMBINED CONCEPTS "ME" AND "COUNSEIDR". BASED ON THREE . CONSECUTIVE ADMINISTRAT IONS OF THE SEHANTIC DIFFERENTIAL FOR F ORTY _Sfi. . (240 observations) Scale Factor Evaluation Activity Potency Mean S .D . Large-Small . .1044 -.0698 -.7815 3.4625 1.3869 Thin-Thick ‘ -.0502 .0054 .7130 3.9417 1.3184 Colorless-Colorful -.1641 .7332 -.0661 4.8792 1.3624 lEasy-Difficult -.6651 .0576 .0512 3.5542 1.7070 ‘ Safe-Dangerous ~.7607 .0667 .2573. 2.8875 1.4577 A Sharp-Dull -.2602 -.6885 -.0764 3.1583 1.2315 Opthistic-Pessimistic. -'.5849. -.3267 -.1920 2.9708 1.5449 _ ,mthree-Contrained 1-46514 -.3087 -.3001"3.4792 1.8528 Fair-Unfair -.7724 .-.2359 -.0243 £2.5083 1.2715 .Active-Passive ‘*.3451 -.6679 :.0932 2.9917 1.5942 x‘Bad-Good -.6933 .1913 -.0511 5.6583 1.1401 ~~—Destructive-Productive -.6843 ' .3216 .0330 5.4375 1.1602 Slow-Fast -.0399 ..7136 -.0439 4.3000 1.3454 Changing-Stable -.6152 -.2046 .1565 3.9625 2.0541 ' Appendi_x E W The MMPI was developed to serve as an objective device for diagnosing psychopathology (Dahlstrom and Welsh, 1960). In its most comon form the instrument con- sists of at.1‘east nine clinical scales and thre validating, scales. 9 is asked to respond to a series of questions designed to assess symptomatology indicative of various types of psychopathology. §_'s responses are readily con- verted into numerical scores for each of the clinical scales.‘ In this way an objective measure of psychopathology is obtained. Currently, however, comon practice is to inter- pret profile patterns in combination with scale scores in arriving at a diagnosis. Validipz: _ Comenting on the MMPI validity, Ellis (1959) cites Calvin and McConnel who assayed eighty MMPI studies from 1940 to 1950 and reported findings of significant discrimina- tions between different kinds of groups in seventy-one and eighty studies. Ellis himself reviewed one hundred and sixty MMPI studies between 1946 to 1951 and found one hundred and two (642) of these showed significant between-group discriminations. , Rothreviews cited above suggest that the MMPI's discrimina- tive powers are better than that of the average personality 31 32 inventory (Ellis , 1959) . Ellis concludes , however, that the question of the MMPI's‘absolute validity has-not been finally settled. More recently, Kleinmuntz (1962) reviewed MMPI val- ,_ aidity studies with college populations under three headings-- concurrent, predictive and construct validity. The bulk of these studies report results favorable for 1001 validity. 7"" ’Religbilitz: L A Table four below lists in suulnary form the results of several studies on MMPI test-retest reliability with college ' I or psychiatric populations. ~ _— ‘3 TABLE4 SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF STUDIES ON MMPI TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY WITH COLLEGE 0R PSYCHIATRIC POPULAT IONS . , . . Study figpultg . Parker, C. A. (1961) 4 4 65 _§_ from enera and Educa- ; No significant differences tional Psych. classes. Test- 5 between test-retest scale retest interval 14.7 months. * scores except for Pd scale. Long and short form MMPI. Gr en eld . S. l 8 I No significant differences college _s_ . MMPI s o tained between test-retest scores. at college admission and at time of contact with college health center. Test-retest inter- val. 11 months. Dahlstrom, LG. and Welgh, G.S,(12§Q) Correlations reported range College _§_. Test-retest interva between .71-.92 for 1 week , clinical scales. RosenI A. (195;) A Test-retest reliabilities me e psyc iatric hospital ; were between .80 to .88 atients. Test-retest interval ? ~ for clinical scales in “ days. , ‘. cannon use, except for L, R, Mf, Pa, and Ma scales whichswere between .55 to . . 5229114125.; Results of studies on MMPI scale value changes following psychotherapy . Study ‘ Rggultg Kaufman“ P. (1990) D, Pt, Sc and F scales 51 _38' receiving conference therapy most modificable. Hs and at U. of Wisconsin. §_s_ diagnosed), Mf same as above but to primarily as .anxiety- states ; 99,9 _ - lower degree. MMPI scale; .Ammcipient psychotic andnonetdevel- changes agree with thera- ;, oped psychotic. pist improvement ratings . .‘Welsh, G. S. (1256) Anxiety index found sensi- #wSevera popu etions tive to psychotherapy “”7 changes. A131.33 D+Pt-.67 (Hs-H-ly). Gallagher, J. J. (1223) Significant differences v 4 non-psychotic §_s_ receiving client- between pre-and post-thera- centered therapy from.Penn. State py MMPI mean scale scores counseling center. . ' on F, K, Hs, D, Pt and Sc. Feeling or discomfort scales (D, Pt, Hs) showed greatest tendency-to change. MMPI scale changes agree with multiple measures 0 psychotherapy success at .05 level. Agreement between scale changes and (1) client rating of success and (2) positive-negative feeling ration changesig- nificant at .05 and .01 levels respectively. .A 11 She k n .A 1 Using t score of over 70 ., psyc atr c att e casua ties . as base, found greatest and 15 anxiety patients in group changes in direction of im- therapy. - * provement in D , Hy , He and Pt scales. . . . Sghofield W. (1220) ' . . Outpatient neurotic females A. No significant differ- treated by junior medical ences between pre-and students. . post-therapy MMPI scale scores.~ . 33 -.-.--a.-.- _i 11H_1__ 7 _.. .- #1..-- 34 Assassins. (continued) ””1 Study Repulgp Schofield, w. (19:02 ’ B. Hospita ized neurotic women. ‘ T B. Hs, Hy and Pd scales changed s ignif icant 1y . Schofield, W. .(1923) ~ Significantly lower scores 2 U. 0 Wisconsin males receiving on 7, F, R, Hs, D, Hy, out-patient psychotherapy. Pt and Se scales. A11 ‘ changes statistically reliable. Mosak, H, H, (1923) Significant decreases on 2 _§, seen in-c ient-centered D, Sc, Hs, Hy and Pa . psychotherapy for average of scales. Same pattern as 15 interviews . on pre-therapy MMPI, but general drop on all scales. MMPI scale decreases assoc- iated with significant im- provement in feelings toward self and others as measured- by the Bell Adjustment- - Inventory. Weiner, D.N. and PhillipsE E.L,(12§%) Strong drop in D, Pt and '- ,. 1 patient undergoing modi iedpsyc - Sc scales. Decline in scales analysis over period of 8 months. agrees with way client eval- ~- 4 Also retested 1 year after therapy - uates his own progress and ‘termination. feelings in psychotherapy. G bson R.L. Sn er W.U. n ' 4 Used total of 20 psycho- Ra W . S therapy change measures '- 2 §§, receiving-client-centered - 8 interview measures , 6 therapy at Penn. State U. Counsel- Rorschach measures and 6 ors. were 15 advanced graduate _ MMPI measures . Decreases students in clinical psych. in D, Hy and Pt scales of ' MMPI associated with both ‘ -- ' independent judges and client '3 ratings of psycho- therapy success . Watt, G. D. (1949} 1' Differences in gains made _s_ were uveni e delinquents f by counseled and control receiving non-directive counsel- I group significantly favor- ing. Control group of matchedfip _able to counseled gs for , not receiving .counseling.‘ ' Hs, Pd, Pt, Sc and Hypo- mania scales .Changes sub- stantiated by changes on 35 W (continued) 7' \ Regpltg California Test of Personality which showed same gains in favor of counseled group. 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A - a ‘a, -'~-v ".J~"\N‘—‘—~ ‘M- o vow—.a-O— 'r any --‘ --.. ~....._..-. § x-q E end Change Rank Orders for five‘MHPI Scales. ordered by Subject 1-26. A Rum EIJ 2 J 0.3000000050005505005000000 521649638287.322729932401260 22 2.1.2 11.. 1121—1... 22. 11 00050505505000550000055050. 531 22 8 8u6-1IHQH8 o’boézmaanOo-lo 2|!!! - 000000000000000050000 oOoso 1524548330563818151617981D .11 2 1121 2111 2 . 05055005000550000000000000 .4319606963636232802666510 21.12 111.2212 221,9- 1, ._. M 00000000050505000000005550 no... Ie 15342654691383701623889338u .22 22 1 111111 2 411 y 38