Empathy theory and practice: a survey of psychologists and counselors

Psychologists and counselors completed a questionnaire devised by the authors to explore the relationships between their extent of endorsement of empathy definitions, their use and views of empathy, and their identification with theories of psychotherapy. Results from 565 respondents suggested that those who identified with humanistic/experiential and psychodynamic theories seemed to have similar views of how empathy is defined and viewed and reported that they use empathy more than those with other theoretical inclinations. These findings suggest that there is some consistency between theoretical identification and definition, as well as reported use and views of empathy.     

Spirituality,Anger, and Stress in Early Adolescents

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of spiritual beliefs and involvement with anger and stress in early adolescents. Early adolescents (n = 53) completed the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (Hatch et al. 1998), the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (Spielberger 1999), and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen and Williamson 1988). Contrary to expectations, spirituality was significantly and positively related to anger and stress. Implications and possible explanations for the unanticipated findings in this study are discussed.     

Co‐Witness Influence on Children's Memory Reports: The Difference is in the Details1

This study examined the effect of social influence on children's witness reports, with respect to a number of details varying in centrality. Children (N = 115; age = 10 years, 4 months to 13 years, 8 months) were interviewed about a personally experienced event. Half of the children were interviewed together with a confederate who answered the interview questions before the child did, while the other half were interviewed alone. Children were influenced by the confederate's answers to withhold some critical details observed (omission errors), but not to add details not observed (commission errors). When the children were asked to follow up on their reports, truthful reports contained more information than did false reports.     

Factors influencing therapist selection among gays,lesbians and bisexuals

For this study 609 gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals were surveyed with respect to openness about sexual orientation and preference for a therapist with a particular sexual orientation. Other factors considered important in selecting a therapist such as licensure, referral source, gender, cost and specialty were also examined. Data for this study was collected using two different methods. In the first method, data was collected from respondents subscribing to internet listervers serving gay, lesbian and bisexual subscribers. In the second, more traditional method, surveys were distributed by mail or hand delivered to various organizations serving gay, lesbian, and bisexual communities in two southwestern states. Findings suggest that significantly more lesbians than gay men and bisexuals in the e-mail sample prefer a therapist of the same sexual orientation. No significant relationships were found between degree of openness and importance of the therapist's sexual orientation. Other factors related to therapist preference were explored, and results are discussed.     

Benefits of expressive writing and expressive talking about life goals

This study employed a 2 (writing vs. talking) × 2 (life goals vs. daily schedule) fully crossed, factorial design to examine whether health benefits might accrue for talking and/or writing about life goals. Participants assigned the life goals topic had fewer illness-related health center visits, regardless of mode of expression, compared to participants assigned the non-emotional topic. Counter to expectation, optimism did not moderate the effect of topic on illness-related health center visits. Participants in talking groups rated post-intervention mood as less negative than those in writing groups and participants rated talking about life goals as more difficult than writing about life goals.     

Is the truth in the details? Extended narratives help distinguishing false “memories” from false “reports”

The present study examined the effects of fantasy proneness on false "reports" and false "memories", of existent and non-existent footage of a public event. We predicted that highly fantasy prone individuals would be more likely to stand by their initial claim of having seen a film of the event than low fantasy prone participants when prompted for more details about their experiences. Eighty creative arts students and 80 other students were asked whether they had seen CCTV footage preceding the attack on Swedish foreign minister Anna Lindh up to, and including, non-existent footage of the actual moment of the attack. If affirmative, they were probed for extended narratives of what they claimed to have seen. Overall, 64% of participants provided a false "report" by answering yes to the initial question. Of these, 30% provided no explicit details of the attack, and a further 15% retracted their initial answer in their narratives. This left 19% of the sample who appeared to have false "memories" because they provided explicit details of the actual moment of the attack. Women scored higher than men and art students scored higher than other students on fantasy proneness, but there was no effect on levels of false reporting or false "memory". Memories were rated more vivid and clear for existent compared to non-existent aspects of the event. In sum, these data suggest a more complex relationship between memory distortions and fantasy proneness than previously observed.     

Personality and Reaction Time after Sleep Deprivation

The relationship between reaction time and both state and trait personality variables was investigated in 37 participants after 30 h of sleep deprivation. Regression analyses suggested that endorsement of greater Novelty Seeking, anger/hostility, and depression/dejection, and less confusion, was associated with greater reaction time declines on one Multi-Attribute Task Battery index after sleep deprivation. Further, greater Novelty Seeking and depression/dejection, and less vigor/activity, was associated with greater reaction time declines after sleep deprivation on another Multi-Attribute Task Battery index. Additional correlational analyses indicated that better reaction times were associated with greater Novelty Seeking and lower anger/hostility prior to sleep deprivation, and less confusion/bewilderment following sleep deprivation. Findings suggest that both state and trait personality variables are associated with reaction time performance following sleep deprivation.     

Five-factor model (Big Five) personality traits and universal-diverse orientation in counselor trainees

In this study the authors explored the relationship between five-factor model (FFM: Big Five) personality traits (J. M. Digman, 1990; R. R. McCrae & O. P. John, 1992; J. S. Wiggins & P. D. Trappnell, 1997) and universal-diverse orientation (UDO; M. L. Miville et al., 1999) in counselor trainees. FFM traits were measured using the NEO-Personality Inventory-Revised (P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992). Statistically significant relationships were found between UDO and one of the Big Five personality traits (Openness to Experience) in counselor trainees. Further regression analysis suggested a relationship between UDO and a particular facet of Openness to Experience, Openness to Aesthetics. This finding suggests that counselor trainees who are open to the creative expressions of others may be comfortable working with a wide variety of clients. These results suggest that counselor training that encourages experiences of aesthetic diversity in addition to an exploration of values may promote trainees' ability to work with diverse clients.     

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.