ed as more competent than when they were introduced as "inexperienced." The foregoing finding was said to suggest that subjects expected the "experienced" therapist to be more competent than the "inexperienced" therapist and that they looked for behavior during the interview which would support this expectation. It was argued by Bridgman that, 15 minutes was probably not a sufficient time period to neutralize pre-therapy stereotypes regarding a therapist's competence.
With respect to therapeutic empathy, results revealed a main effect for the therapeutic interview. All therapists were rated significantly higher on empathy after the interview. This was said to indicate that in vivo contact with a therapist can mediate some of a client's pre-therapy expectations and stereotypes. No gender differences were observed for either the empathy measure or for the competence measure.
In a study highly similar to Bridgman's (1990), Joffrion (1993) examined the effect that gender, labeled experience level, actual experience level, and an in vivo interview have on the therapeutic encounter. These characteristics were evaluated by having 98 female undergraduate students participate in a 45 minute clinical interview.
Before meeting the therapist, each subject read a randomly assigned counselor introduction (labeled inexperienced or experienced) and then rated the therapist using the Counselor Rating Form and the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory on empathy, competence, and trustworthiness. The subject was then randomly assigned to a therapist (male or female; novice or expert). After the interview the subject evaluated the counselor again using the same instruments.
Joffrion (1993) reported that there was an interview effect for empathy, competence and trustworthiness with subjects rating therapists higher after the interview than before. A three-way interaction between gender, actual experience level, and interview was s...