Leaders' behavior and group members' interpersonal gains

Early and late in 18 2-day solo-led psychodynamic groups for mental health professionals, 185 participants rated their own behavior and each other's on composite measures of Acceptance versus Rejection of Self (ARS) and of Others (ARO). Only on ARO were leaders consistently rated more favorably than members. Considered by group units, members' mean ratings of peers made modest but significant early-to-late advances on both measures. About two-thirds of all intergroup differences in members' net shifts were separately predictable from ratings of leaders by self and also by pooled group members each time. Groups' ARO shifts were best predicted by members' ratings of leaders toward Warm versus Cold. Leader self-ratings toward Accepts others versus Rejects others best predicted groups' ARS shifts. Featuring interpersonal behavior's two principal dimensions and bridging the common split between studies of group outcome versus group processes, these findings generally support Roger's (1959) theory of personality change.