. the-Helping Profesiions. PCB DATA 78 NOTE 18p.; Paper presented at the- Al nuai Meeting of the

A Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that counseling students will be most inclined to develop and later use those 'skills vhiathey perceive as being valuable; Pot example, if students consider display of warmth a characteristic which distinguishesi' effective from ineffective counselors, it is more likely that once graduated the students will display warmth to their clients,: irrespective of how valid this perception of the effects of displaying warmth might be. ClVarly then, counseling6students, perceptions regarding characteristics of effectiie counselors should be of interest to, counselor educators. To examine these pe;ceptions, all students. enrolled in counseipr education at a large university were asked to rateee extent to which 35.adjectives were descriptive of each of four co elor types. The ratings were analyzed, using a principal components procedure. Differences in the student ratings. were identified and discussed. Findings have isplicationi foi programs training students for the helping professi:ns. (Author) 4