fei75766_ch10_309-344.indd 332  02/06/20 12:29 PM
Part III    Humanistic/Existential Theories332
personality testdeveloped byHenry Murray (1938), wasusedtotesthypotheses that
called forastandard clinical diagnosis; theS-OScale, aninstrument compiled atthe
Counseling Center from several earlier sources, measures antidemocratic trends and
ethnocentrism; theE-MScale wasusedtocompare descriptions ofclients’ behavior 
andemotional maturity asseenbytwoclose friends andbytheclients themselves.
Tomeasure change from theclient’s point ofview, theresearchers relied on
theQ sort technique developed byWilliam Stephenson oftheUniversity ofChicago 
(Stephenson, 1953). TheQsorttechnique begins withauniverse of100self-referent 
statements printed on3-by-5 cards, which participants arerequested tosortintonine
pilesfrom “most likeme”to“least likeme.”Researchers asked theparticipants to
sortthecards intopilesof1,4,11,21,26,21,11,4,and1.Theresulting distribution 
approximates anormal curve andallows forstatistical analysis. Atvarious points 
throughout thestudy, participants wererequested tosortthecards todescribe their
self,theirideal self,andtheordinary person.
Participants forthestudy were18menand11women whohadsought therapy 
attheCounseling Center. More thanhalfwereuniversity students andtheothers 
werefrom thesurrounding community. These clients—called theexperimental orther-
apy group —received atleastsixtherapeutic interviews, andeachsession waselectroni -
callyrecorded andtranscribed, aprocedure Rogers hadpioneered asearly as1938.
Theresearchers usedtwodifferent methods ofcontrol. First, theyasked half
thepeople inthetherapy group towait60daysbefore theywould receive therapy. 
These participants, known astheown-control orwait group, wererequired towait
before receiving therapy inorder todetermine ifmotivation tochange rather thanthe
therapy itself might cause people togetbetter. Theother halfofthetherapy group, 
called theno-wait group, received therapy immediately.
Thesecond control consisted ofaseparate group of“normals,” whohad
volunteered toserve asparticipants ina“research onpersonality” study. This
comparison group allowed researchers todetermine theeffects ofsuch variables 
aspassage oftime, knowledge thatoneispartofanexperiment (theplacebo 
effect ),andtheimpact ofrepeated testing. Theparticipants inthiscontrol group 
were divided intoawait group andano-wait group, which corresponded tothe
waitandno-wait therapy groups. Researchers tested both thetherapy waitgroup 
andthecontrol waitgroup fourtimes: atthebeginning ofthe60-day waitperiod, 
prior totherapy, immediately after therapy, andafter a6to12-month follow-up 
period. They administered theno-wait groups thesame testsonthesame occa -
sions, except, ofcourse, prior tothewaitperiod (seeFigure 10.1).
Findings
Theresearchers found thatthetherapy group showed lessdiscrepancy between self
andideal selfaftertherapy thanbefore, andtheyretained almost allthose gains 
throughout thefollow-up period. Asexpected, the“normal” controls hadahigher 
levelofcongruence thanthetherapy group atthebeginning ofthestudy, butincon-
trasttothetherapy group, theyshowed almost nochange incongruence between self
andself-ideal from theinitial testing untilthefinalfollow-up.
Inaddition, thetherapy group changed theirself-concept more thanthey
changed theirperception oftheordinary person. Thisfinding suggests that,although Final PDF to printer