Male and Female Counselor and Client Perceptions of Four Levels of Counselor Touch
In this study, counselors (60 men, 60 women) and clients (60 men, 60 women) each evaluated a videotaped vignette of a counselor-client interaction with one of four counselor touch conditions depicted: no touch, touch of client's hand, touch of client's shoulder, semi-embrace. Dependent measures were the Counselor Rating Form and the Personal Attribute Inventory. Three-way multivariate analyses of variance (Treatment X Subject Gender X Subjects' Client vs. Counselor Status) yielded no significant interactions. However, significance was obtained for the main effects of treatment and subjects' client versus counselor status. Subsequent analyses revealed that the counselor in the semi-embrace condition was perceived as less trustworthy than those in any of the other conditions. Also clients perceived the counselor as more expert, attractive, and trustworthy than did counselors.