COUNSELING - AN INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCE PROCESS

Certain results from opinion-change research seem relevant to counseling since both areas emphasize communication and behavior change. These two areas are examined within a cognitive dissonance framework, and opinion-change research results are reviewed to show that opinion change is controlled by (a) communication discrepancy, (b) perception of communicator expertness, (c) perception of communicator trustworthiness, (d) perception of communicator attractiveness, and (e) involvement. A 2-phase model of counseling is entailed by these considerations in which the counselor manipulates these perceptual and involvement factors in the 1st phase and, in the 2nd phase, makes full use of his resulting power by actively pursuing client change so as to achieve client goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.