Cognitive Bias in the Assessment Phase of the Counseling Process

Assessment is described from the perspective of counselor inferential judgment. Types of cognitive bias and ways to avoid inferential error are discussed.     

The escalation of commitment in political decision-making groups: a social identity approach

Escalation situations are those in which some project or course of action has led to losses, but there is a possibility of achieving better outcomes by investing further time, money, or effort. Although this phenomenon has been studied in individuals, there has been little research which has examined it in groups. It was hypothesized that individuals stronger in social identity would be more likely to escalate their commitment to a failing project. Groups of subjects (half whose members strongly identified and half who weakly identified with their groups) were asked to play the role of a town council whose current objective was to invest money in construction of a playground that was met with many problems. The results showed that groups that were stronger in social identity escalated their commitment to the playground. The implications of the results are discussed, along with future directions for research.     

THE ROLE OF COGNITIVE ABILITY IN THE SUBGROUP DIFFERENCES AND INCREMENTAL VALIDITY OF ASSESSMENT CENTER EXERCISES

This study investigates the degree to which subgroup (Black-White) mean differences on various assessment center exercises (e.g., in-basket, role play) may be a function of the type of exercise employed; and furthermore, begins to explore why these different types of exercises result in subgroup differences. The sample consisted of 633 participants who completed a managerial assessment center that evaluated them on 14 ability dimensions across 7 different types of assessment exercises. In addition, each participant completed a cognitive ability measure. The results suggest that subgroup differences varied by type of assessment exercise; and furthermore that the subgroup difference appeared to be a function of the cognitive component of the exercise. Lastly, preliminary support is found that the validity of some of the assessment center exercises in predicting supervisor ratings of job performance is based, in part, on their cognitive component; however, evidence of incremental validity does exist.     

Parental representations and attachment style as predictors of support‐seeking behaviors and perceptions of support in an academic counseling relationship

The role of parental representations and attachment style as predictors of support‐seeking behaviors and perceptions of support in the context of an academic counseling relationship was investigated. Prior to participation in a 10‐hour academic counseling program in college, 91 students completed scales assessing perceptions of their current relationship with their parents and their attachment style. Students' support‐seeking behaviors and counselors' sensitivity, as reported by both participants (students and counselors), were evaluated twice during the counseling process, and general feelings of support were evaluated at the end of the program. Parental representations and attachment style both predicted students' support‐seeking behaviors and perceptions of support in counseling. The strength of the prediction differed as a function of time of measurement and source of evaluation. In addition, student‐perceived counselor sensitivity was found to mediate the relation between parental representations and support‐seeking behaviors in counseling     

Helping Mom Fail: A Case of a Stalemated Divorcing Process

This article describes a systems approach to the problem of a child who had become symptomatic as a result of her parents' separation. Elements of the divorcing process that can create a symptomatic child are highlighted. Family members cope with separation and divorce by devising strategies for navigating the divorcing process. These strategies can mesh to create dysfunctional sequences in which family members get “stuck.” Case material illustrates the development of a stalemated divorcing process, in which a dysfunctional sequence keeps the child uncontrollable and mother incompetent. Family therapy breaks the stalemate and allows family members to proceed with appropriate developmental tasks.     

Effects of Communication Expectancies,Actual Communication,and Expectancy Disconfirmation on Evaluations of Communicators and Their Communication Behavior

The current investigation addressed (a) the perseverance of preinteraction expectancies in the face of actual communication behavior, (b) the separate effects of personal attribute and communication expectancies, and (c) the role of expectancy confirmation or disconfirmation on postinteraction evaluations. Participant perceivers were induced to hold positive or negative expectancies regarding a target partner's general personal attributes and specific communication behavior prior to a problem-solving discussion. They then interacted with a confederate target who communicated in a pleasant, involved fashion or its opposite, after which perceivers evaluated target personal attributes and communication behavior. All three hypotheses received at least partial support. Preinteractional expectancies, especially personal attribute ones, caused perceivers to evaluate targets and their communication behavior differently, with negatively valenced expectancies serving as negative violations. Relative to a pleasant, involved communication style, unpleasant, uninvolved communication was less expected and evaluated negatively, thus functioning as a negative violation; it also reduced credibility, attraction, and perceived rewardingness of the target. Finally, disconfirmatory communication altered target evaluations relative to confirmatory communication, especially for high-valence targets. These results lend support to the premises and predictions of expectancy violations theory.