| Abstract: | Twelve experienced counselors engaged in an intensive 40-hour training program over a two-week period. It was hypothesized that they would make rapid gains in accurate empathy and non-possessive warmth and that counselors initially highest on these dimensions would show the greatest increase during training. There was a substantial and significant increase in accurate empathy, but counselors initially high (N = 6) and counselors initially low (N = 6) made approximately equal gains on empathy. No overall gains were made on nonpossessive warmth, and there was evidence suggesting that some decrease may have occurred, particularly within those counselors initially providing high levels of warmth. The pre-training empathy and warmth levels of these counselors were compared with those in other studies conducted in training programs not providing specific training in empathy and warmth. The comparison data were consistent with the hypothesis that gains on these dimensions occur after the initial graduate training program. |
