IMPACT OF PRESESSION INFORMATION REGARDING THERAPIST COUNSELING STYLE AND SIMILARITY OF RELIGIOUS VALUES ON RELIGIOUS JEWISH CLIENTS

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects of religious Jewish clients' precounseling knowledge of a therapist's religious orientation and counseling style on their perceptions of a therapist's effectiveness and their willingness to discuss problems with him. Ninety religious subjects were chosen from the total population of a rabbinical college and randomly assigned to one of the following treatment groups: Therapist labeled religious Jew/warm, religious Jew/cold, nonreligious Jew/warm, nonreligious Jew/cold, non-Jew/warm, non-Jew/cold. After receiving information about the therapist, all subjects listened to the same audio tape of a simulated therapy session. At the conclusion of the tape, the subjects rated the therapist using scales to measure the dependent variables of therapist effectiveness and subject willingness to discuss problems with him. It was predicted that the religious Jewish subjects would evaluate the therapist labeled "religious Jew" as more effective than either the therapist labeled "nonreligious Jew" or "non-Jew" and that the subjects would be more willing to meet with him. It was further predicted that the subjects would give more positive evaluations to the therapist labeled "nonreligious Jew" than to the one labeled "non-Jew" and would be more willing to meet with him and that they would rate the therapist labeled "warm" as more effective than the one labeled "cold," regardless of the specified religious orientation of the taped therapist. The therapist labeled "religious Jew" was in fact rated significantly more effective than the other two therapists and subjects reported willingness to discuss significantly more problems with him. There were no significant differences on the variables between the groups evaluating the therapists labeled "nonreligious Jew" and "non-Jew." Regardless of the designated religious orientation of the therapist, the one labeled "warm" received significantly higher effectiveness ratings from all groups. It was concluded that precounseling information regarding the therapist's religious orientation and counseling style can affect the perceptions of religious Jewish subjects about the therapist's effectiveness and their willingness to discuss problems with him.