A counselor's evaluative expectancy and his interpersonal response to a client.
An experiment was designed to test 2 hypotheses: 1. Irrespective of his prior set, when a counselor accurately responds to a client-confederate as a friendly rather than a hostile person, the counselor will be induced to make more favorable responses to (a) the client and (b) himself as counselor. 2a. When the counselor's prior expectancy of his client as either friendly or hostile is subsequently confirmed in an interview, the counselor's responses will be accentuated in the direction of his prior set. 2b. When the counselor's prior expectancy is disconfirmed in the interview, his responses will be attentuated in the direction of his prior set. Results supported the first hypothesis and provided equivocal support for the second hypothesis.