Effects of client and counselor sex on client attendance at counseling

The present study examined the relationship between sex of client, sex of counselor, client's presenting problem, and the length of time the counseling dyad stayed together. Dyads engaged in personal counseling had significantly more sessions than dyads engaged in vocational counseling or test feedback. Clients receiving personal counseling were more likely to terminate unilaterally than clients receiving vocational counseling or test feedback.A preliminary version of this article was presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1980.     

Effects of profanity,touch, and sex of the counselor on perceptions of the counselor and behavioral compliance: Implications for rational-emotive therapists

The present study investigated the effects of profanity, touch, and sex of the counselor on perceptions of the counselor and on behavioral compliance. Ninety six undergraduate psychology students attended a self help presentation on principles of mental health, according to rational-emotive theory. At the end of each presentation the counselor recommended that the subject pick up a book request card (initial compliance) and mail it away (delayed compliance) in order to receive a free copy ofA New Guide To Rational Living. The subjects were also asked to rate their preceptions of the counselor on the dimensions of expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. The results indicated that the use of profanity led to significantly lower perceptions of trustworthiness and a significantly lower level of delayed compliance. Female counselors were rated as more expert, attractive, and trustworthy as compared with male counselors. There was no effect of touch on any of the dependent measures. Implications of these findings for the rational emotive therapist are discussed.This study is based upon a doctoral dissertation completed by the first author, under the direction of the second author.We would like to thank Jean Cirillo who prepared an initial version of the rational emotive, mental health lecture used in this study.Mindy Phillips Ph.D. is a school psychologist in the Farmingdale, N.Y. public schools. She completed her doctoral degree, including her training in RET, at Hofstra University.Howard Kassinove, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology and Director for Clinical Psychology at Hofstra University in New York. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy and holds the ABPP diploma in Clinical Psychology.     

Differential preparatory cardiovascular responses to aversive and appetitive behavioral conditioning

Dogs were required to press a response panel either to avoid shock or obtain food. During a one-hour interval immediatelypreceding performance on the avoidance task, blood pressure increased while heart rate decreased. In contrast, both blood pressure and heart rate increased during the one-hour interval immediatelypreceding performance on the food task. During both the shock-avoidance and food performancesper se, however, elevations in heart rate and blood pressure were observed, though the avoidance task produced less consistent heart rate changes. These effects were observed (1) with different individual dogs on each of the two training procedures, and (2) with the same dogs exposed successively to both aversive and appetitive behavioral conditioning.     

Cardiovascular and neurohumoral responses to behavioral challenge as a function of race and sex

Cardiovascular and hormonal responses to a structured interview, an electronic video game, a cold pressor test, and exercise on a bicycle ergometer were assessed in eighty-three 25- to 44-year-old normotensive Black and White men and women. Blacks showed significantly greater diastolic blood pressure (DBP) responses than Whites during the cold pressor test, which were not accounted for by an increase in plasma catecholamines. Exercise produced reliably greater systolic blood pressure (SBP) increases in Black women than in Black men or White women. Men showed significantly greater SBP and DBP changes than women during the video game. These findings suggest that the pattern of physiological reactivity elicited by challenge is related to the race and sex of the subjects.     

Effects of low survivability cues and participant sex on physiological and behavioral responses to sexual stimuli

According to life history theory, environmental cues indicating that one's future survivability is low increase reproductive effort. This suggests that exposure to low survivability cues will increase people's preparedness to engage in sex. However, according to sexual selection theory and parental investment theory, evolutionary pressures favored a more conservative sexual strategy among women compared to men. We therefore hypothesized that men, but not women, would respond to low survivability cues with increased sexual preparedness. Accordingly, both subliminal and supraliminal death primes (as compared with control primes) led men, but not women, to exhibit increased physiological arousal in response to sexual images (Study 1), and stronger approach-oriented behavioral responses to sexual images (Study 2). Theoretical implications for life history theory are discussed.     

Escape from fear: a detailed behavioral analysis of two atypical responses reinforced by CS termination

Escape from fear (EFF) is a controversial paradigm according to which animals learn to actively escape a fear-eliciting conditioned stimulus (CS) if the escape response (R-sub(e)) is paired with CS termination. Some theories posit that EFF learning is responsible for instrumental avoidance conditioning. However, EFF learning has typically been weaker than avoidance learning and difficult to reproduce. The authors examined EFF learning and memory with 2 atypical R-sub(e)s: rearing and nose-poking. The data suggest that rearing, but not nose-poking, can be learned as an instrumental EFF response. Further, EFF memory was response specific, aversively motivated, and controlled by the CS. Successful EFF learning also resulted in better long-term elimination of a passive fear reaction (freezing). Factors important for EFF experiments and theoretical considerations are discussed.     

Prenatal maternal stress: Differential effects upon male and female offspring responses to restraint stress as adults

Pregnant primiparous rats were subjected to four days of light restraint stress on postconception days 7 through 10, inclusive, coincident with the development of the fetal gastrointestinal system. Twenty male and twenty female offspring from prenatally stressed and nonstressed rats were then subjected to two hours of supine cold-restraint as adults. Eighty percent of nonprenatally stressed offspring developed gastric lesions, while 47.5% of offspring of prenatally stressed mothers displayed lesions. A significant sex-stress interaction was detected, indicating that male offspring from prenatally stressed mothers display less severe gastric lesions in response to restraint stress as adults than do male offspring from nonprenatally stressed mothers. Female offspring from both prenatal stress conditions showed similar levels of stress-induced lesions.     

Selective responses to threat: the roles of race and gender in decisions to shoot

Extensive work over the past decade has shown that race can bias perceptions and responses to threat. However, the previous work focused almost exclusively on responses to men and overlooked how gender and the interaction of race and gender influence decisions regarding use of force. In the current article, two studies examine the implications of gender (Study 1) and both race and gender (Study 2) for decisions to shoot criminal suspects on a computerized simulation. In Study 1, participants were biased away from shooting White female suspects compared to White male suspects. In Study 2, White participants showed a pronounced bias toward shooting Black men but a bias away from shooting Black women and White ingroup members, providing evidence of a behavioral threat-related response specific to outgroup men stereotypically associated with aggression. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Burnout in counseling psychologists: Type of practice setting and pertinent demographics

Extent of burnout experienced by conseling psychologists and the relationship between levels of burnout and different types of practice settings, selected demographic and work-related variables were investigated in this study. Burnout was defind in terms of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) subsxales. Multiple regression anslyses were perforned on the data (n = 521). Counseling psychologists in private practice reported the lowest levels of burnout, while those employed in hospital settings reported the highest levels of Burnout. A positive relationship was found between hours of client contact per week and sense of personal accomplishment. Finally, an inverse relationship was reported between age and burnout, and males experienced greater depersonalization of clients than females.     

Cognitive beliefs about male sexuality: The impact of gender roles and counselor perspectives

Two studies are presented which examine stereotypie beliefs about males and their sexuality through the use of the Stereotypes About Male Sexuality Scale (SAMSS). In the first study, the relationship between the SAMSS and two gender role measures were examined. The results revealed that the restrictive emotionality aspect of the masculine role was strongly associated with stereotypic beliefs about male sexuality. Other gender role preferences and behaviors were also found to be positively associated with conventional performance approaches to male sexuality. In the second investigation, counseling trainees were asked to describe how mentally healthy adult men and women would respond to the Stereotypes About Male Sexuality Scale. The responses of both male and female intraining counselors indicated that they expected mentally healthy males: (a) to reject inhibited, control, and constant readiness approaches to the expression of male sexuality and (b) to express greater disagreement toward defining male sexuality exclusively in terms of sexual intercourse and toward viewing males as inherently knowledgeable about sex. These results thus provide evidence for the importance of the SAMSS and a cognitive approach to the study of male sexuality.William E. Snell, Jr., Ph.D. is an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts at Southeast Missouri State University. Sharyn S. Belk is a Ph.D. candidate in social-personality psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. Raymond C. Hawkins II, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist at the Austin Regional Clinic in Austin, Texas.Portions of these data were presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, and at the XXIII International Congress of Psychology, Acapulco, Mexico.     

Not doing is not the opposite of doing: implications for attitudinal models of behavioral prediction

This study argues for and tests the prediction that cognitions about not performing a behavior are not simple opposites of cognitions about performing the same behavior because they rely on separate goals. Three behaviors (i.e., eating meat, doing vigorous physical activity, and breastfeeding) are examined, for which performing and not performing are means to different goals. In the context of the theory of planned behavior, the discriminant validity of constructs related to performing and not performing behaviors is tested. Moreover, the simultaneous validities of perceived behavioral control over doing and not doing for the prediction of both intentions and the incremental validity of both intentions in predicting behavior are investigated. Results show that the constructs related to performing and not performing a behavior independently contribute to the prediction of intentions and behaviors. Implications of considering separable motivational systems underlying doing and not doing are discussed.     

Ethical issues in genetic counseling: A comparison of M.S. counselor and medical geneticist perspectives

New technologies available in the field of medical genetics have increased the importance of responsible ethical decision-making among genetic counselors. A 1985 national survey of M.D. and Ph.D. genetic counselors assessed ethical attitudes using case scenarios designed to simulate dilemmas faced in genetic counseling (Wertz and Fletcher, 1988b). The current study focuses on attitudes of M.S. genetic counselors using similar scenarios, allowing for effective comparisons. M.S. counselors were more willing than M.D. and Ph.D. counselors to maintain patient confidentiality when screening for Huntington's Disease and occupational diseases, and a greater number would agree to counsel patients pursuing prenatal testing for sex selection. A majority of M.S. counselors would disclose an XY karyotype to a phenotypically female patient. M.S. counselors reasoned that respect for patient autonomy and patient confidentiality justified their decisions in many cases. The importance of these principles is discussed and questioned.     

A behavioral approach to substance abuse prevention in the correctional setting: A preliminary report

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a substance abuse program in a correctional institution using social skills training for secondary prevention. Forty-four male inmates with a history of substance use participated in the pilot program. Program topics included drug, alcohol, and substance abuse treatment knowledge and development of anger and stress management skills. A pretest-posttest analysis revealed significant improvement in overall knowledge of program topics and within specific areas. Areas of greatest improvement were drugs and alcohol. Clients and group leaders reported that the program was effective in facilitating attitude and behavior change regarding substance abuse. Results suggest a social competence approach to substance abuse rehabilitation in correctional institutions holds promise for both increasing knowledge and teaching effective skills to resist future substance abuse.     

Of sex roles and strollers: Female and male attention to toddlers at the zoo

Research supports the conclusion that adults interact differently with children of different sexes. Laboratory and home studies indicate that fathers/adult males are the primary agents of sex typing and that mothers/adult females are the primary caretakers, especially regarding the managerial aspects of child care. Little attention, however, has been directed at the public display of these differences and their covariance. Observations were made of 6414 visitors to the Sacramento zoo, with 524 adult females, 524 adult males, and 524 toddler triumvirates targeted for specific analyses of adult-child interactions and caretaking behaviors. Males were significantly more likely to carry female toddlers than male toddlers, while females made no such distinction. Adult females were more likely than adult males to push the child's stroller. Related research on the father's role in sex-typing behavior and the role of the division of child care between parents in the maintenance and reproduction of gender roles is discussed.This research was supported by a University of California at Davis Faculty Research Grant to the second author. We thank R. J. Mitchell for his contributions, both in and out of his stroller.     

Gay and bisexual male clients' perceptions of counseling: the role of perceived sexual orientation similarity and counselor universal-diverse orientation

A recurring question in multicultural counseling is whether client-counselor similarity on sociodemographic characteristics benefits counseling. A related issue is how counselor orientation to diversity relates to counseling process and outcome, both as a main effect and in interaction with counselor-client sociodemographic match. This cross-sectional study investigated these questions in relation to gay and bisexual male clients' counseling experiences by examining clients' perceived similarity to their counselor in sexual orientation, as well as counselors' self-reported orientation to diversity (assessed in terms of level of universal-diverse orientation [UDO]). Data were from 83 male-male client-counselor dyads recruited from lesbian/gay/bisexual-affirming counseling practices, where clients identified as gay or bisexual and counselors identified as gay, bisexual, or heterosexual. Counselor UDO was positively and uniquely associated with client ratings of the working alliance, session depth, and session smoothness. Perceived sexual orientation similarity was not directly related to any of the counseling-related criterion variables. Moreover, when counselors reported low levels of UDO, perceived similarity was negatively associated with the client-rated alliance and perceived improvement. Client religious commitment-a control variable in all analyses--was uniquely and negatively associated with client ratings of perceived improvement in counseling.