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Interaction of client epistemological style and preference for counseling mode
Abstract
This study examined the match by individuals between their epistemological style and their preference for a counseling mode that was theoretically congruent with that way of knowing. Previous researchers such as Lyddon (1989) had suggested that there was such an interaction. Ninety-three college students in Educational Psychology classes at a Midwestern university participated in the study; fifty-five had clear preference in epistemological style and took part in all phases of the study. The Psycho-epistemological Profile (Royce & Mos, 1980) was used to assess participants' way of knowing and categorized them into three style groups: those with an empirical epistemological style, those with a metaphorical epistemological style, and those with a rational epistemological style. The inclusion criterion for the groups was one fourth standard deviation between the top two styles on the Psycho-epistemological Profile. The participants watched three video vignettes of simulated counseling sessions depicting three counseling modes: behavioral counseling, constructivist counseling, and rational counseling. They then completed an evaluation of their level of preference for the three counseling modes and at the end of the session rank ordered their preference for each of the modes. Parametric and nonparametric statistics were used to analyze the data. The results of the study did not confirm a relationship between participants' epistemological style and their preference for a theoretically matched counseling mode. Participants showed a significant preference for the behavioral counseling mode over the constructivist mode on the first measure and a significant preference for the behavioral counseling mode over both the constructivist and the rational counseling modes on the second measure. Discrepancies between the results of this study and those of Lyddon's (1989) were discussed and suggestions for future research proposed.
Subject Area
Educational psychology|Academic guidance counseling|Personality
Recommended Citation
Downing, Kenneth Richard, "Interaction of client epistemological style and preference for counseling mode" (1992). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9225470.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9225470