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Distinction within the concept of the inherently helpful person
Author(s) -
Woods Donald J.,
Beecher Glen P.
Publication year - 1979
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(197901)35:1<108::aid-jclp2270350115>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - helpfulness , psychology , natural (archaeology) , social psychology , cognitive psychology , subject matter , pedagogy , archaeology , curriculum , history
Describes a self‐report instrument that measures verbal helpfulness with mildly disturbed persons. Scores on this instrument were correlated with three S variables for 100 S s randomly assigned to one of two instructional conditions. Differing levels of helpfulness and differing patterns of correlations were obtained for S s who were completing the measure as they would respond to a friend, and as they thought a psychotherapist would respond. Previous notions of the “inherently helpful person” have assumed that natural helpfulness is a matter of typical performance rather than a skill subject to motivational and contextual variables. The present results question this assumption and suggest a distinction between typical performance and level of ability in inherent helpfulness.