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The purpose of this investigation was to identify in vitro fertilization (IVF) candidates' motives for parenthood and hence for seeking treatment. The relationship among identified motives, pretreatment emotional adjustment, and reaction to treatment failure was then examined. Women as a group placed greatest emphasis on fulfilling gender-role requirements, and those strongly endorsing such motives showed the poorest adjustment before IVF and the most negative reaction to first-cycle failure. In contrast, men in general were more likely to stress a desire for marital completion, although this motive was not predictive of emotional status before or after IVF. However, men experiencing social pressures to have children were at greater risk when treatment failed. The results indicate that greater consideration of cognitive factors may enhance understanding of emotional reactions to IVF failure and provide important insights for therapeutic intervention.

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Three successive groups of prospective hotline workers were randomly assigned to three different pretraining conditions. Nine microcounseling participants received training in the use of attending behavior, open invitations to talk, paraphrasing, and reflection of feeling during a weekend workshop. Six sensitivity training participants were exposed to an unstructured weekend experience designed to develop interpersonal skills. Nine participants received no weekend experience. All participants then received six evenings of routine technical training over a six‐week period. Post‐training pseudocalls were audiotaped for all participants. Participant responses were rated for empathy, and assessed on the Therapist Error Checklist, and on three specific counselor response categories. Microcounseling participants emitted more “good” responses and were rated as more empathic than both the sensitivity and control groups. Both sensitivity and microcounseling participants emitted more open invitations to talk than control participants. Microcounceling participants emitted fewer advice‐laden responses than control participants. Implications for future research are discussed.

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The effect of systematic desensitization on semantic and physiological responses to anger-inducing scenes was examined with 20 nursing students. Pre- and post-treatment GSR, and semantic responses of a treatment and a no-treatment control group were obtained during exposure to anger-inducing scenes. Results supported the hypothesis that systematic desensitization reduces arousal and rated anger to the scenes.

Twenty-five hotline workers were randomly assigned to three skill-training conditions. Nine microtraining subjects were trained in the use of attending behavior, open inquiry, and reflection of feeling and content using the standard microtraining paradigm. Seven programmed-learning subjects were trained in the same skills using programmed manuals and role-play interviews with feedback. The remaining nine subjects acted as a no-training control group. Pretraining and post-training interviews and telephone calls with pseudoclients were audiotaped for each subject. Subjects were assessed on empathy, the Therapist Error Checklist, attending behavior, and three modes of skill interaction. For interviews the main effect of training on each measure was significant. Both microtraining and programmed learning resulted in superior interview performance over no-training, and differed little from each other. For telephone calls microtraining resulted in higher empathy ratings than progammed learning or no-training.