Date of Award

1991

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

This analogue study was an investigation of the effects of counselor-trainee mood-state upon counselor-trainee affective empathy and attribution of emotion. The sample consisted of 89 master's and doctoral level counselors-in-training enrolled in counselor-education programs at two midwestern universities. Students randomly participated in one of two mood-treatment conditions: Elated or Depressed. Moods were induced with the Velten Mood Induction task. Dependent variables of affective empathy and attribution of emotion were measured by the Affective Sensitivity Scale, Form E-80. Five research hypotheses were analyzed by five one-way analyses of variance. None of the research hypotheses (p $<$.05) yielded significant differences across conditions of mood-state. In a post hoc analysis, a significant difference between master's and doctoral level counselors-in-training was observed for the dependent variable of affective empathy. It was concluded that there do not appear to be relationships between (a) counselor mood-state and counselor affective empathy, or (b) counselor mood-state and counselor attribution of emotion. Implications for practice and further research are discussed.

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