A and B subject-therapists' responses to videotaped schizoid and intropunitive-neurotic prototypes

Notes the suggestion from research that individuals classified as a's on the whitehorn-betz a-b scale have been more "effective" with schizoid or schizophrenic patient types, while b's have been more "effective" with intropunitive-neurotic patient types. An analogue experiment was conducted testing whether these compatibility conditions involved varying levels of the "therapist-offered conditions" deemed central by client-centered therapists. 20 a and 20 b volunteer undergraduate males responded "helpfully" and "naturally" at 4 points of interruption to videotaped enactments of intropunitive neurotic and schizoid patient prototypes. As hypothesized, the communication of respect and empathic understanding and the response duration of s-therapists was a joint function of their a-b status and the patient with whom they interacted. Alternative explanations of the more "compatible" dyads are discussed. (24 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).