EXPERTNESS, TYPE OF APPEAL, AND INFLUENCE IN COUNSELING

A counseling analogue study was conducted to test the hypothesis that expertness will increase the freedom of an attractive interviewer to use different types of influence. It was predicted that only experts would obtain change with an impersonal appeal, while both experts and inexperts would be successful with a personal appeal. Opinion change was assessed through selfratings of achievement motivation by 57 college males. Subjects ' ratings were made immediately before, innediately.after, and one week after a simulated counseling interview. The results failed to support the hypothesis; with both appeals, experts and inexperts were equally effective. Trends in change scores and in subjects ' evaluations of the interviewer suggested that the personal and impersonal appeals had a differential impact. (Author) N. office for student affairs RESEARCH BULLETI