Allen E. Ivey: Transforming Counseling Theory and Practice

Allen E. Ivey discusses the major influences on his life. He delineates and comments on his contributions to the counseling profession in the areas of microcounseling, developmental counseling and therapy, and multicultural counseling. He explores spirituality, social activism, and professional activities. The interview reveals Allen Ivey the person as well as Allen Ivey the professional.     

Neuroticism and social comparison orientation as moderators of affective responses to social comparison at work

In a study among 72 nurses, the affective consequences of social comparison were examined and related to neuroticism (N) and to social comparison orientation (SCO). Participants were confronted with a bogus interview with an upward versus a downward comparison target. Positive affect and identification were higher, and negative affect was lower, in the upward than in the downward comparison condition. Independent of their SCO, the higher individuals were in N, the less they identified with the upward comparison target, the more they identified with the downward comparison target, and the less positive affect they showed following confrontation with the upward comparison target. In contrast, independent of their level of N, the higher individuals were in SCO, the more negative affect they showed following confrontation with the downward comparison target. The effects on negative affect stayed the same when controlling for positive affect, and the effects on positive affect stayed the same when controlling for negative affect. These effects were also obtained when perceived direction was used as a predictor instead of the experimentally manipulated direction. It is concluded that, although N and SCO are correlated, these variables seem to have independent and distinct effects upon the responses to social comparison information.     

Cognitive confrontation and avoidance during a naturalistic medical stressor

This study was undertaken to shed some light on problems that have arisen in measuring cognitive confrontation (monitoring) and cognitive avoidance (blunting) with a self-report questionnaire, the Miller Behavioral Style Scale (MBSS; Miller, 1987). For this purpose, variants of both coping styles were studied in a naturalistic setting: 37 women who underwent prenatal diagnosis were interviewed at home about their ways of coping with different stages of the procedure, a few days before they expected the diagnostic results. Interview fragments pertaining to cognitive confrontation and avoidance were selected and analysed by two investigators in order to generate categories of avoidance and confrontation coping strategies. For some of the fragments, inter judge reliability was assessed using new judges. A comparison between the categories found and the kinds of items used in the MBSS shows that in real life more coping variants occur than those represented in the MBSS, in particular variants that involve a combination of cognitive confrontation and avoidance. Implications for the dimensionality of both concepts and for their measurement are discussed.     

Assessing and Facilitating Children's Cognitive Development: Developmental Counseling and Therapy in a Case of Child Abuse

This article presents practical implications for assessing a child's cognitive development and then facilitating developmental growth. The concepts of developmental counseling and therapy (Ivey, 1986, 1990) are presented as a systematic framework to integrate neo-Piagetian developmental theory into the interview. Specific techniques may be used for assessing cognitive development, expanding horizontal and vertical development, designing systematic questioning sequences, and planning overall treatment. An example of treatment of a case of child abuse illustrates the concepts in action.     

Reduction of cognitive dissonance as a function of magnitude of dissonance,differentiation, and self-esteem

The purpose of the present experiment was to test several hypotheses concerning the interrelationship of dissonance reduction mechanisms in a situation where response possibilities are relatively unconstrained. Engaged female students were invited to take part in a bogus ?Marriage Expectancy Test' that was supposed to allow predictions of marriage success. One week later, they received fictitious results differing negatively from their initial expectations of marriage success. The reactions measured were ?conformity with the result' and ?derogation of source' (confrontation mechanisms), and ?devaluation of importance of the issue' and ?under-recall' (avoidance mechanisms). As predicted, avoidance responses increased steeply with discrepancy, while little increase was found for confrontation mechanisms. Psychological differentiation had no significant effect on dissonance reduction, whereas high vs. low self-esteem influenced ?derogation of source' and ?devaluation of importance of the issue'.     

An empirical investigation of the effects of a microcounselling programme with social work students: The acquisition and transfer of component skills

Microcounselling has become widely used with various professional groups as a systematic approach to improving interviewing and counselling skills (Ivey & Authier, 1978). Although reviews of research largely attest to its effectiveness (Hargie & Saunders, 1983; Baker & Daniels, 1989), such conclusions have been based on outcome criteria which, for the most part, have been essentially second-order and proximal (Dickson, 1981). The present study, which utilized a multiple baseline design, was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of a programme of microcounselling, undertaken by social work students, in terms of both the initial acquisition and subsequent transfer of the interpersonal skills of non-verbal communication, questioning, reflecting, listening, explaining, set induction, and closure. While the training intervention was adjudged to have been successful with regard to the initial acquisition of skills, only limited evidence was found of performances generalizing from role-play to ‘real problem’ situations (across tasks) and from familiar to unfamiliar clients (across persons). These results are related to existing research findings. The possibility of distinct and characteristic profiles of skill acquisition is discussed together with factors which may promote transfer effects. Finally, limitations of the study are addressed and recommendations made for further research.     

Developmental Personality Styles: An Attachment Theory Conceptualization of Personality Disorders

Attachment theory, as a developmentally based theory of personality formation, provides a viable framework for understanding the development and maintenance of personality disorders, or what A. E. Ivey and M. B. Ivey (1998) have referred to as “developmental personality styles.” Using K. Bartholomew's (1990) 4‐dimensional model of adult attachment as an organizational framework, 10 developmental personality styles are differentiated regarding their unique attachment experiences, working models of self and other, and feedforward beliefs. Implications of an attachment theory framework for counseling clients with problematic developmental personality styles are discussed.     

La relation entre les conflits conjugaux,la satisfaction conjugale des mères et la qualité de la communication mère‐adolescente

A sample comprising 41 couples and their adolescent daughters participated in a study on the association between marital conflicts and mother‐daughter communication. Observational measurements and questionnaires were used to evaluate the level of the quality of communication between the couple, the marital satisfaction of the parents and the quality of the communication between mother and adolescent daughters. The results show that: (a) conflicts observed between the parents are positively associated with the level of confrontation observed between the mother and the daughter and (b) the marital satisfaction of the mothers plays a mediatory role between the conflicts in the couple and the level of mother‐daughter confrontation. The marital satisfaction of the mothers would be the link in the process of propagation of the affects and the negative behaviour of the couple and the mother‐adolescent daughter relationship.     

Group discussion as interactive dialogue or as serial monologue: the influence of group size

Current models draw a broad distinction between communication as dialogue and communication as monologue. The two kinds of models have different implications for who influences whom in a group discussion. If the discussion is like interactive dialogue, group members should be influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion; if it is like serial monologue, they should be influenced most by the dominant speaker. The experiments reported here show that in small, 5-person groups, the communication is like dialogue and members are influenced most by those with whom they interact in the discussion. However, in large, 10-person groups, the communication is like monologue and members are influenced most by the dominant speaker. The difference in mode of communication is explained in terms of how speakers in the two sizes of groups design their utterances for different audiences.     

Organizational communication,performance, and job satisfaction as a function of ethnicity and sex

Regression analysis was used to examine simultaneously the effects of supervisors' and subordinates' ethnicity and sex on organizational communication, supervisory-rated performance, and job satisfaction. The study indicates that female subordinates differentially perceive organizational communication. It also identifies interactions between the sex of the supervisor and subordinate on communication and between the ethnicity of the superior and subordinate on supervisory-rated performance. There were limited impacts of sex and ethnicity on job satisfaction.     

Group composition as a determinant of Kelman's social influence modes

It is argued that compliance in groups will be highest where the composition is maximally confrontation-generating; identification will be highest where composition is support-generating; and internalisation will be highest where both some support and some confrontation are present. The hypotheses were tested in sixteen one-day experimentally composed T-groups. All the hypotheses were supported, particularly the first two. In this setting internalisation was found to be related to confrontation but not to support.     

Confronting Math Stereotypes in the Classroom: Its Effect on Female College Students’ Sexism and Perceptions of Confronters

Women often face sexism and stereotypes about their academic ability, and this makes it important to examine the effects of confronting sexism in the college classroom. The current research consisted of 2 studies of how witnessing a confrontation of a sexist stereotype in the classroom affects female students’ perceptions of the confronters and self-reported sexism. The samples consisted of female students from a public college in the Northeastern U.S. who provided their perceptions of teachers described in vignettes as either confronting or not confronting a student’s stereotype of women as unskilled at math. In Study 1 (N?=?48) perceptions of the teacher were more positive when confronting the stereotype, and students’ self-reported sexism was reduced when the teacher confronted rather than ignored the stereotype. Study 2 (N?=?56) compared the effects of a teacher versus a student confrontation of the same stereotype. Participants perceived the teacher and student more positively when they confronted rather than ignored the stereotype. However, the source of the confrontation yielded no differences in sexism. These results suggest that students want their teachers to respond to bias in the classroom and that teachers should respond to sexist incidents in order to reduce the level of sexism among their students.     

Improvisation as a Meta-Counseling Skill

Counselor education tends to see the development of basic counseling and communication skills as the foundation of clinical training. Improvisation has historically and primarily been connected to theater training and as a performance mechanism. By developing skills in spontaneity and the nature of narrative (or story) one becomes more able to be in-the-moment with a client or clients and thus less anxious and more able to meet the client where they are. As such, improvisation can really be seen as a meta-counseling skill—a skill that can form a firmer foundation for the learning of the basic counseling and communication micro-skills. This article outlines the core concepts of improvisational training for counselors and includes examples of improvisational games that can specifically help in preparing counselor trainees for their future clinical work.     

Ally confrontations as identity-safety cues for marginalized individuals

Three studies and an integrative data analysis (N = 1,017) demonstrated that confrontations (speaking up against a stereotypical or prejudiced statement), when affirmed by bystanders, serve as an effective safety cue for targets of bias. In Studies 1 and 2, Chinese-American and White women witnessed anti-Asian and sexist remarks, respectively. Results revealed that a lone confronter (i.e., a confronter not affirmed by others) was unable to boost identity-safety (e.g., belonging, safety) compared to when the bias was not confronted, regardless of confronter identity (i.e., ally vs. ingroup confronter). Study 2 demonstrated that other people in the interaction group (i.e., bystanders) must affirm the confrontation for it to serve as an effective safety cue. Study 3 replicated and extended these results among White women for confrontation of sexism and Black women for confrontation of racism. Overall, these studies suggest that confrontations, when affirmed, can serve as a safety cue.     

A critique of the microcounselling approach to problem understanding

Microcounselling approaches involve teaching the component behaviours of effective counselling or interviewing within a problem-solving framework. Egan, Ivey and Carkhuff, as proponents of this view, stress that later action stages of the problem-solving cycle should be based on an adequate understanding of the client's problem. The relationship between the skills which comprise the microcounselling approach and the goal of problem understanding is examined. It is argued that the approach lacks any explanation of how problem understanding is reached, and that it concentrates instead on the communication techniques involved in the discovery and modification of the client's understanding. This omission leaves counsellors without a rationale for the modification of their clients' views and without a means to regulate their use of the various microskills. Information theory and recent research on complex problem-solving are introduced to explain the skills involved in reaching a high-quality understanding of a client's problem. Given that these complex cognitive processes are not addressed in the microcounselling approach, suggestions are made for its modification.     

Communication accommodation in text messages: Exploring liking,power, and sex as predictors of textisms

This mixed-methods study applies Communication Accommodation Theory to explore how liking, power, and sex predict one’s likelihood for using textisms in digital interpersonal interactions. Textisms are digital cues that convey nonverbal meaning and emotion in text communication. The main experiment used a hypothetical texting scenario to manipulate textism amounts (none/many) and participant’s perceived power levels (low/equal/high) during texting interactions to examine the number of textisms participants used in subsequent responses in comparison to the number of textisms they viewed. Primary results show that (1) participants moderately converged to use similar amounts of textisms, and (2) those with low power who viewed many textisms were more likely to use textisms themselves during subsequent responses. Through the examination of adaption behaviors in text messaging, scholars can better understand the contexts in which users will include textisms to intentionally convey nonverbal meaning and emotion in digital communication.     

Confrontation in the group analytic matrix: Toward a classification

This paper illustrates how confrontation is used in applying the Group Analytic model of Foulkes. Within the group, confrontation with images of the self and others provides a many-layered experience which transcends the classical psychoanalytic differentiation between confrontation, clarification and interpretation. A classification of seven types of confrontation is offered based on who confronts whom, and is linked with Foulkes's four levels of relationship within a group.Based on a paper read at the 9th Congress of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, August 1986.