TY - JOUR

T1 - Where are the A and B therapists, 1970-1975?

AU - Cox, W. Miles

PY - 1978/6

Y1 - 1978/6

N2 - A review of research on the Type A-Type B therapist variable is made with the aim of determining if this is a valid typology for delineating successful and unsuccessful therapeutic interventions. The majority of studies (using analogues of psychotherapy with A and B undergraduates serving as "therapists") have attempted to locate personality and other behavioral correlates of A-B status.Conclusions drawn from these studies stand singly without corroboration; attempts to replicate them have been unsuccessful; or they have been contradicted by other findings. On the whole, it appears that A-B scales measure nothing which is meaningfully and reliably related to therapeutic success.Serious methodological shortcomings of the original research on the A-B variable are noted, and a strong stance is taken that A-B scales and the prolificresearch which they have fostered are useless in elucidating characteristics of effective and ineffective psychotherapists.

AB - A review of research on the Type A-Type B therapist variable is made with the aim of determining if this is a valid typology for delineating successful and unsuccessful therapeutic interventions. The majority of studies (using analogues of psychotherapy with A and B undergraduates serving as "therapists") have attempted to locate personality and other behavioral correlates of A-B status.Conclusions drawn from these studies stand singly without corroboration; attempts to replicate them have been unsuccessful; or they have been contradicted by other findings. On the whole, it appears that A-B scales measure nothing which is meaningfully and reliably related to therapeutic success.Serious methodological shortcomings of the original research on the A-B variable are noted, and a strong stance is taken that A-B scales and the prolificresearch which they have fostered are useless in elucidating characteristics of effective and ineffective psychotherapists.

M3 - Article

VL - 15

SP - 108

JO - Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice

JF - Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice

SN - 2044-8341

IS - 2

ER -