To investigate whether psychotherapists perceive religious clients as more pathological than nonreligious clients, and whether the client's presenting problem or level of pathology affect this bias, 80 practicing licensed psychologists were each presented with a case study in which a female client was described as involved in either religious or nonreligious activities. The client was also described as either depressed or oppositional. An MMPI profile which was presented to the therapists depicted the client as either moderately or severely pathological. A 2 (religious versus nonreligious client) x 2 (depressed versus oppositional client) x 2 (severe versus moderate pathology MMPI elevation) ANOVA was performed on therapists' ratings of the client's severity of pathology. Although no main effects were found, a significant three-way interaction was found. Therapists perceived the client as most pathological when the client was described as religious, oppositional, and with the severe pathology MMPI profile. Therapists perceived the client as least pathological when the client was described as nonreligious, depressed, and with the moderate pathology MMPI profile. No distinctions were made on the dimension of client pathology for the other six conditions. / As a manipulation check, the therapists were asked to rate the religiousness of the client. The client described as religious in the case descriptions was rated as significantly more religious than the client who was not described as religious; however, an inspection of the cell means indicated this difference did not hold for all experimental conditions. It is difficult to determine to what degree the manipulation was weak and to what degree the manipulation check was weak. Nonetheless, even with a weak manipulation, significant differences were found on the pathology ratings related to client religiousness. / The results of the present study provide evidence that, under certain circumstances, psychotherapists exhibit some degree of bias against clients who are religious. Speculations were made regarding how this bias might be manifested within the context of actual psychotherapy. The results of this study demonstrate that the issue of therapist bias is complex and requires complex designs. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-06, Section: B, page: 2636. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_75852 |
| Contributors | SWEIGART, NANCY L., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 77 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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