Effects of Clients' Attributional Explanations and Reasons for Seeking Help on Counselors' Impressions

On the basis of an impression management view of the counseling interaction, we investigated the effects of clients' initial self-presentations on counselors' impressions. Specifically, we predicted that a client offering personal attributional explanations (claiming responsibility for his or her problematic behavior) would be seen in a more favorable light than would one who attributed his or her predicament to others or to the situation. Additionally, we expected that the client who expressed an intrinsic (self-improvement) reason for seeking help would make a better impression than would one who offered an extrinsic (nontherapeutic) reason. Results supported the hypotheses. The client who expressed personal attributions was viewed as more motivated and attractive than was the client who made situational attributions. When the reason for seeking help was intrinsic, subjects perceived the client to be more motivated and as having a better prognosis for change. There were, however, no uniquely significant effects on counselors' specific outcome expectancies or on their judgments of problem severity.