This study sought to determine the influence of pretherapy religious value information upon potential clients' (a) perceptions of a counselor, (b) willingness to see a counselor and (c) confidence of counselor helpfulness. Two hundred and ten undergraduate college students volunteered for the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups and given varying amounts and types of written information about a counselor. Group 1 received just the counselor's credentials. Group 2 received the same information plus statements about the counselor's beliefs about counseling and his therapeutic approach. Group 3 received the same information as group 2 plus a statement of the counselor's religious values. Subjects then viewed a short video tape of the counselor in a counseling session. Results of statistical treatment of dependent variables indicated that subjects' perceptions of the counselor, willingness to see the counselor, and confidence of counselor helpfulness were not influenced by the written information, including the statement of religious values that the subjects received before viewing the video tape of the counselor. Implications and recommendations for further research are discussed.

This study compared beginning and advanced counselor education students on self-reported sex-role orientation and preference for selected counseling responses. It was assumed that sex-role socialization leads to restrictive attitudes that make it difficult for students to acquire and use selected interpersonal counseling skills. It was anticipated that counselor education training programs would provide a means for students to overcome the limitations imposed by sex-role socialization practices. Subjects in this study were 87 counselor education graduate students, 34 advanced students enrolled in the final two courses required for the master's degree and 53 beginning students enrolled in the first course in the master's degree sequence. Based on scores obtained from the Bern Sex-Role Inventory, subjects were divided into three groups: (1) feminine, (2) androgynous, (3) masculine. The Response Alternatives Questionnaire was used to determine subjects' preference for counseling responses.