Cross-validational studies of the personality correlates of the A-B therapist "type" distinction among professionals and nonprofessionals.

Provided more knowledge about the personality dimensions that underlie the A-B scale particularly with respect to potential sex differences. A-B scores of two samples, 155 male and 36 female medical students, were related to their scale scores from the Personal Orientation Inventory and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Univariate analyses indicate that the present set of measures are related to A-B status for females, but not for males. For female medical students it appears that scoring as an A is associated with anxiety proneness, low self-esteem, constriction and introversion, rigidity, dependence, and guilt feelings. Implications of the present results and recommendations for future research with the A-B dimension are discussed.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Some personality correlates of the a-b therapist scale for male and female medical students

Treppa¹,

Dods²

1978

“…With therapists, the direction of the interactions suggested that non-complimentary dyads (As with TAS and Bs with AVOS; cf. Berzins & Seidman, 1969;Lynch, Kogut, & Smith, 1976) were associated with longer responses, F( 1, 32) = 6.66, p <.05. The quasi-therapist, however, displayed the opposite A-B status X patient type relationship, F(1, 32) = 4.96, p <.05; the quasi-therapists group means suggested that complimentary pairings were associated with greater length of response.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…The scale was scored in the B direction; high scores indicated B status, and low scores indicated A status. The upper and lower quartiles found in a normative sample of combined students and professional therapists were used as a determination of A-B status (Berzins et al, 1972). The mean score differences for the A-type therapist and quasi-therapist were not significantly different, nor were the scores between the B-type therapist and the B-type quasi-therapist.…”

Section: Subjectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The tapes consisted of 10 brief monologues, 5 TAS types and 5 AVOS types. The verbal materials or scripts were identical to those used by Berzins andSeidman (1968, 1969). The tapes show the supposed patient from the waist up, seated in a chair as though he were speaking to someone directly across from him.…”

Section: Apparatus and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The last response measure, also a structural index, was the form of sentence or, more precisely, the number of declarative statements. Previous research has indicated that these variables have been useful in differentiating experience level and types of therapist-patient interactions (Berzins & Seidman, 1969). Therefore, they were chosen in the current study to help understand further differences that might occur between therapists and quasi-therapists.…”

Section: Dependent Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Therapists and quasi-therapists in a therapy analogue situation

Kogut

Lynch

1984

Evaluated an assumption from previous psychotherapy analogue studies, namely, that trained psychotherapists and untrained quasi‐therapists with personality similarities will respond similarly to patient presentations. Ss were 24 male psychotherapists and 24 male undergraduate students, chosen partially on the basis of their responses to an A‐B personality scale derived from the work of Whitehorn and Betz (1954). The three‐factor experimental design included S personality type (A or B), S professional status (psychotherapist vs. student), and videotaped patient simulations (neurotic vs. schizoid), with all Ss exposed to both patient prototypes. Therapists demonstrated a higher degree of accurate empathy, were less active, made shorter responses, and used more declarative sentences (p < 0.01 for each variable). Second‐order interaction effects indicated that therapist personality type × patient type pairings produced opposite results for quasitherapists when compared to professional therapists.

A-B as a measure of external sensation seeking

Kulberg

Franco

1976

PROBLEMStudies of A and B professionals and undergraduates have attempted to define the personality characteristics of a A that would account for their effectiveness with schizophrenics. These studies have described the A males, in comparison to Bs, as more open to emotional experience(2o), more feminine('j8 lo* 12, 2 0 ) , less defensive in the social desirability sense (la, 14), cautious, submissive, unconcerned with sensory pleasures(2, 8 , 1 6 ) and neurotic (12, 20). In interpersonal situations As express more emotions, talk more about their own feelings, are less defensive, more feminine, and behave in a way that is interpreted as intuitive, empathic and emotional as contrasted with Bs, who behave more rationally and intellectually(8~ 9 ) . Seidman, et al. (19) describe the As as people-oriented and interested in providing service. Schubert and Wagner('*) also state that the As are concerned with other people, feelings and new ways of looking at things. The B males are described as emotionally controlled @O), responsible-hypernormal (13), oriented toward thrill-seeking or risk-taking (low harmavoidance, which is related to sensation seeking, @ l ) ) , concerned with sensory and physical enjoyment, dominant, s, 16), and cognitively oriented (19). Bs are more concerned with established facts and objects in the external world(18) and deal with abstract ideas, concepts, and mechanical things in a disciplined and cognitively well-differentiated manner ( l o ) . Based on these interests, McNair, Callahan and Lorr have suggested that the B therapist may have a more working-class orientation.These studies can be pieced into a composite description of the B male as emotionally controlled, responsible-hypernormal, somewhat defensive, and cognitively oriented, while A males are seen as open t o emotional experience or feelings, feminine, less defensive, and as neurotic. It appears that the B male is presenting a cultural stereotype of a healthy male on tests of personality (dominant, but not open t o feelings), whereas the As tend t o present a less stable, emotional, feminine picture. Because most of these relationships have been found only for males, the personality differences between A and B females are unclear. While women score mostly as As, they are not evaluated unfavorably ( i e . , in a neurotic light as are A males) because their emotional and feeling orientation is more consistent with the expected culturally defined role of the healthy woman.This study was designed to test this general personality description of As and Bs by the administration of several personality scales that tap the dimensions discussed. It was hypothesized that B males would score as extraverted, high sensation seekers, defensive (high social desirability), repressors of emotional experience, high in self-esteem and low neurotic. It was proposed that the females would show high sensation-seeking and extraversion. Further specific hypotheses were not made for females due to a lack of consistent results in the literature on the A-B di...