The effects of counselor profanity and physical attractiveness for male and female counselors were examined in a counseling analogue. In a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial design, 72 male and female volunteer subjects were randomly assigned to one of eight experimental conditions of videotaped counseling sessions where they rated the counselor on a variety of dependent measures related to their impressions of counselor professional and personal attributes, likelihood of counseling for a variety of presenting problems, and their satisfaction. Multivariate analyses of the data revealed that counselors using profanity were rated less favorably across all measures regardless of physical attractiveness. A significant multivariate interaction indicated that when profanity was present, female counselors were rated more positively than male counselors. Overall, physically attractive counselors, regardless of their sex or use of profanity, were judged to have more favorable attributes. Implications of these results on the counseling process are discussed.
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