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Need for cognition and paradox: The elaboration likelihood model and counseling
Abstract
Among counseling psychology's pursuits has been the attempt to delineate the factors of the counseling relationship that lead to the counselee being persuaded to change. The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion (ELM) provides a model predicting the factors in any influence event. This study examines the application of the ELM to the counseling mileu. In a counseling analogue setting forty-eight subjects, initially mildly to moderately depressed, were given standardized behavioral and paradoxical symptom prescription (ELM's "boomerang") interventions for depression. Process and outcome variables were evaluated to assess the ELM's predictive capacity. Influence factors (process) were assessed by two measures: (1) the problem relevance of subject's free recall of any circumstances of a counseling session, and (2) the subject's recall of the counselor's attempts to influence him or her in a problem relevant manner. Influence effects (outcome) were assessed by periodic measurements of subject's level of depression and by the subject's self report of compliance with the intervention directive. The research produced mixed support for the ELM in counseling. It did not find results that were contrary to the model. Suggestions for improvement of the research techniques to control for the variance encountered in this study were included.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Social psychology|Academic guidance counseling
Recommended Citation
Halpain, Dale Robert, "Need for cognition and paradox: The elaboration likelihood model and counseling" (1988). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8818626.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8818626