To investigate the effects of the order of being the counselor when involved in role-play practice, 36 novice trainees were assigned to counseling triads and then to the levels of ordinal position-counselor first, second, or third. Each participant also served as a client and as an observer within the triad. No difference among the three ordinal positions was found in the trainees' abilities to produce reflection of feeling responses. Similarly, there were no differences between those trainees who functioned as as observers before being the role-play counselor. There was a significant positive linear trend, however, for ordinal position (i.e., the accuracy of the trainees' reflection of feeling responses steadily improved from first counselor role play to third counselor role play). These results are discussed from a social-learning theory perspective.

This study investigated the defensive strategies of male repressers and sensitizers in counseling when objective self-discrepant information (low maturity scores) was presented. Cognitive and affective counseling approaches were used to present self-discrepant information, permitting a 2 X 2 factorial ANOVA design (defensive orientation by treatment). Galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart-rate measurements confirmed stress in subjects when self-discrepant information was presented. Repressers used projection as a preferred defense and sensitizers passively changed their self-perception. The cognitive treatment was more successful in reducing self-maturity ratings in both groups, while the affective treatment gave more equivocal results. Defensive strategies of subjects in conjunction with the counseling approach determined the extent to which self-discrepant information was accepted.Coping with threat to the self-structure is a process confronting everyone. However, by maturity, most adults have developed a repertoire of mechanisms of defense against self-discrepant stimuli (Sarnoff, 1962). In addition to specific defense mechanisms, a more basic defensive orientation is also learned. Blocher (1966) stated that "each individual acquires both a set of coping behaviors and a general style of coping that he learns to use [p. 49]."Research on defensive orientations began in relation to perceptual adaptation to threat (Lazarus, Erikson, & Fonda, 1951). Gordon (1957) defined these defensive tendencies as the "repression-sensitization" dimension. Byrne (Byrne, 1961; Byrne, Barry, & Nelson, 1963), extending the work of others (Altrocci, Parsons, & Dickoff, 1960), developed a scale to measure individual repressing or sensitizing tendencies. Subsequent research has shown repressionsensitization to be a stable personality di-*This article is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation from

Electromyograph (EMG) biofeedback training as a method to reduce test anxiety among university students was investigated. A procedure combining EMG biofeedback training with systematic desensitization was compared to an automated systematic desensitization program not using EMG feedback. The study also evaluated the effectiveness of EMG feedback-relaxation training without desensitization. From a population of 306 students, 99 were identified as test anxious and invited to participate in the 5-week program. Forty students accepted the invitation and were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (a) EMG biofeedback training with systematic desensitization, (b) EMG biofeedback relaxation training, (c) automated systematic desensitization, and (d) no treatment control. At the end of the program, all participants were administered the Suinn Test Anxiety Behavior Scale, the Test Anxiety Scale, and an anagrams test, given under threat conditions. The results suggest that EMG biofeedback training is a useful technique for reducing test anxiety, but not necessarily more effective than systematic desensitization.Biofeedback training refers to the use of instrumentation to provide a person with immediate and continuous information about one or more physiological processes. The knowledge gained from the feedback offers an opportunity to regulate the physiological response. Investigators have shown that with biofeedback technology, individuals are capable of regulating bodily processes such as brain waves (Kamiya, 1968), blood pressure (Shapiro, Schwartz, & Tursky, 1972), skin temperature (Sargent, Green, & Walters, 1973), and muscular activity (Basmajian, 1963;Budzynski & Stoyva, 1973).Learning to control muscular activity is possible with an electromyograph (EMG), aThis study was based on a doctoral dissertation completed by the first author under the direction of the second author at

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This study describes how responsible 123 counseling graduate students believed that individuals are (or should be) for 23 specific conditions or predicaments in their lives.