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Therapists prophesy
Author(s) -
Martin Paul J.,
Moore Joseph E.,
Sterne Arthur L.,
McNairy Ruth M.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197704)33:2<502::aid-jclp2270330237>3.0.co;2-b
Subject(s) - expectancy theory , psychology , psychopathology , psychotherapist , outcome (game theory) , clinical psychology , perception , therapeutic relationship , social psychology , mathematics , mathematical economics , neuroscience
Therapists' expectancies for therapeutic gain in patients reputedly are linked to the actual outcome of treatment for their patients. Theoretical papers have suggested that therapists' expectancies may cauase or facilitate patient therapeutic response to treatment. Unfortunately, empirical data related to these notions are greatly lacking. The present study tested the relationship between therapist expectancy and treatment outcome for hospitalized schizophrenic patients. It also tested two opposing hypotheses re the nature of the link between therapist expectancy and outcome (causative vs. predictive). Multiple regression analyses revealed that therapsts' expectancies are multidimensional, fromed partly on the basis of therapists' knowledge of psychopathology in general and partly on their perception of their patients' pretreatment adjustment. The analyses also revealed that therapists' expectancies were associated significantly with treatment outcome; the data supported a predictive, not causative, interpretation of the nature of therapists' expectancies.