A-B Type Therapists and the Authoritarian Personality

Abstract

This study tested an early contention by Betz that it is the A-B type therapist's authority orientation which most significantly mediates success over schizoid and neurotic patient groups. The authoritarian has been described as conventional, rigid in thought, insecure, concrete, and intolerant of ambiguity, paralleling the description of B-therapists, while As are seen as nonauthoritarian. Ss listened to tape-recorded communications from neurotic and schizoid patients and responded “therapeutically” in free written form at the end of each of five segments per tape. Analyses of variance indicated only minimal support for the hypothesis that the A-B dimension is related to authoritarianism.