Degree Discipline

Expertness and Similarity as Factors of Influence in the Preferences of Deaf College Students for Therapists (open access)

Expertness and Similarity as Factors of Influence in the Preferences of Deaf College Students for Therapists

This study utilized Strong's (1963) theory of counseling as a social influence process to investigate the effect of therapist's training, experience, and similarity on hearingimpaired subjects' perceptions of the therapist's expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness and their willingness to see the therapist. Increasing levels of therapists' training and work experience was hypothesized to increase subjects' perception of expertness and their willingness to see the therapist. Increasing levels of therapists' similarity to the client was hypothesized to increase subjects' perceptions of expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness and their willingness to see the therapist. Subjects' ratings of the therapist were hypothesized to change when therapists with different levels of similarity were seen in different orders of presentation.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Thigpen, Sally Elizabeth
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Nondirective and Paradoxical Therapist Communication on Core Therapeutic Conditions and Perceived Client Influence (open access)

Effects of Nondirective and Paradoxical Therapist Communication on Core Therapeutic Conditions and Perceived Client Influence

The purpose of this study was first to determine whether or not paradoxical communication could be designed to contain therapeutic levels of the core therapeutic conditions, and, second, to determine how paradoxical counselor communication compared to nondirective communication on the social influence dimensions of attractiveness, expertness, and trustworthiness. For the first phase, four judges rated audiotapes on the level of the core therapeutic conditions on one of four counseling conditions (paradox high or low on core conditions, and nondirective high or low on core conditions). For the second phase, 133 undergraduate college students were asked to listen to the four counseling conditions on audiotapes and to rate the counselor on the social influence dimensions
Date: August 1982
Creator: Beard, Myron Joseph
System: The UNT Digital Library
Effects of Reflection, Probing and Paradoxical Therapist Responses on Client Self-Acceptance (open access)

Effects of Reflection, Probing and Paradoxical Therapist Responses on Client Self-Acceptance

Client self-acceptance is a crucial element of mental health and a goal of psychotherapy. It has been demonstrated that client self-disclosure in psychotherapy is instrumental in the promotion of self-acceptance. Reflection, probing, and paradoxical therapist responses frequently are used to elicit self-disclosure. Cognitive dissonance theory was used to provide a theoretical understanding of these techniques and their use in the promotion of self-acceptance. Reflection, probing, and paradoxical responses were conceptualized as providing a client with different perceptions of choice over self-disclosure that may affect the occurrence of self-acceptance. This study compared the effects of the reflection, probing, and paradoxical techniques on self-acceptance and anxiety following self-disclosure.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Robertson, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Anne)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Counseling Outcomes and Perceived Counselor Social Influence: Validity of the Counselor Rating Form Extended (open access)

Counseling Outcomes and Perceived Counselor Social Influence: Validity of the Counselor Rating Form Extended

This study investigated predictor variables of the Counselor Rating Form dimensions of expertness, attractiveness, and trustworthiness using the predicted variable of therapy outcome, measured by Goal Attainment Scaling and postcounseling scores on the Counselor Rating Form. One hundred-fifteen mental health center outpatients agreed to participate. Forty subjects (25 females and 15 males) met all criteria and were labeled "completors." An additional 30 subjects, labeled "dropouts," enrolled but did not meet criteria. These subjects' data were considered in a separate analysis for prediction of treatment continuation. All subjects rated their own need for therapy before their initial interview. After the initial and final interviews, both the subject and the counselor completed the Counselor Rating Form, rating their perceptions of the counselor1s behavior during that session. The Goal Attainment Scaling was used to generate both pre- and postcounseling outcome scores on each subject's individual, personalized goals.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Rucker, Iris Elaine Votaw
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ordination and Cognitive Complexity as Related to Endogenous and Exogenous Depression (open access)

Ordination and Cognitive Complexity as Related to Endogenous and Exogenous Depression

Personal construct psychology, as formulated by George Kelly (1955), contributed substantial knowledge to the study of psychopathology. The small amount of research in the area of depression has focused generally on the content of self-constructs and the cognitive complexity characteristic. The purpose of this study was to examine the construct system of the depressed patient specifically by investigating the endogenicity, exogenicity, and severity of depressive symptoms in relationship to construct content as applied to others, cognitive complexity, and ordination.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Angelillo, Joseph
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Generalization of Problem Identification and Remedial Plan Skills in Client-Centered Case Consultation (open access)

The Generalization of Problem Identification and Remedial Plan Skills in Client-Centered Case Consultation

An analogue study examines the acquisition and generalization of problem identification and remedial plan skills following client-centered, school case consultation. Nine trained consultants interacted with 35 undergraduate female consultees in one of three intervention conditions. Conditions involved the consultants either viewing the same problem as consultees, not viewing the problem, or attention control. Consultees viewed ten minute video tapes of a problem student in a classroom, then provided written problem descriptions and remedial plans. They then received twenty minutes of consultation or control, and again wrote descriptions of the problem and remedial plans. The same procedure was repeated two day later. One week later, subjects viewed another video tape of a problem student, provided written problem descriptions and remedial plans, but received no interventions.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Eubanks, Ron R. (Ron Ray)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Test Anxiety and Exam-Taking Skills as Mediators of Information Processing in College Students (open access)

Test Anxiety and Exam-Taking Skills as Mediators of Information Processing in College Students

Cognitive-attentional test anxiety theory posits that test-anxious individuals direct attention internally, thus interfering with task-relevant information processing. Nevertheless, working-memory deficits are often obscured by compensatory exertion of increased effort by anxious subjects on cognitive tasks. Failure to identify anxietyspecific performance decrements has led some authors to replace the test anxiety construct with one emphasizing skill deficiencies. This investigation examined whether information-processing deficits are inherent sequelae of test anxiety or merely reflect lowered exam-taking ability in test-anxious persons.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Paulman, Ronald George
System: The UNT Digital Library
Relationship of Self-Acutalization and Marital Models to Marital Adjustment (open access)

Relationship of Self-Acutalization and Marital Models to Marital Adjustment

The present study was an attempt to further investigate what factors contributed to whether married individuals defined their relationship as traditional or nontraditional. The project, moreover, explored what variables affected marital adjustment levels. The variables whose effects were assessed regarding whether married individuals defined their relationship as traditional or nontraditional included self-actualization and presence or absence of children. The factors examined thought to affect marital adjustment levels were self-actualization, subjective definition of the relationship as traditional or nontraditional, and presence or absence of children.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Caswell, Lucy
System: The UNT Digital Library
Theoretical Orientation, Style, and Compatibility as Factors in Spouse Cotherapy (open access)

Theoretical Orientation, Style, and Compatibility as Factors in Spouse Cotherapy

Cotherapy has been advocated as an effective treatment mode, especially with groups, couples, and families. The relationship between the cotherapists has been identified as an important determinant in the success of this method. This relationship has been compared to the marital relationship between spouses, and the marriages of therapists have been viewed as offering advantages for cotherapy. Since not all therapists who are married to each other work as cotherapists, the purpose of this study was to investigate whether or not spouse cotherapists differ from other therapists who are also married to each other but who do not work together on a regular basis as cotherapists. The five dimensions measured for all subject couples include frequency of differing theoretical orientation, similarity of self-reported behavior in therapy, compatibility of needs for inclusion, compatibility of needs for control, and compatibility of needs for affection. Subjects for this study were 6 5 married couples in which both spouses were psychotherapists. The couples were divided into two groups according to whether or not they worked together as cotherapists on a regular basis. The group of spouse cotherapists included 29 couples who reported regular cotherapy together. The group of therapist couples included 37 couples who …
Date: August 1982
Creator: Benningfield, Anna Beth
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Investigation of Black Stepmother Stress (open access)

An Investigation of Black Stepmother Stress

Much research conducted on stepmothers has not been racially representative. This includes Janice Nadler's (1976) research on three psychological stresses (anxiety, depression, and anger) of stepmotherhood. To investigate the stress of black stepmotherhood, this study replicated a portion of Nadler's investigation on a black sample. It was hypothesized that 1) black stepmothers would report more stress than black natural mothers; and that 2) black stepmothers would report more stress than the white stepmothers in Nadler's study. The data indicated no significant difference in the levels of stress experienced by black stepmothers and black natural mothers. Overall, white stepmothers reported more stress than black stepmothers. The former may be attributable to black stepmothers and natural mothers having the same support system, the black extended family.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Rodgers, Jacquelyn
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assessment of Posttreatment Follow-Up Evaluation Procedures with Alcohol-Abuse Patients: A Methodological Study (open access)

Assessment of Posttreatment Follow-Up Evaluation Procedures with Alcohol-Abuse Patients: A Methodological Study

The purpose of this project was to clarify the methodological considerations involved in the posttreatment follow-up evaluation of alcohol-abuse patients. A two-part project was undertaken in an attempt to answer the follow-up questions of how and when to measure treatment effects with discharged alcoholics. In Part I, a large-scale survey was utilized to examine return rates across various program evaluation methods and time frames. In Part II, the predictive validity of scores received at short-term follow-up in relation to scores received at 1-year follow-up was assessed for measures of psychosocial functioning and alcohol consumption.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Till, Steven Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library