Reinforcement and nonreinforcement in Rogerian psychotherapy.

Excerpts from tape recordings of a single, long-term, successful therapy case handled by Rogers were analyzed to evaluate the adequacy of the clientcentered view that empathy, warmth, and directiveness are offered throughout therapy in a manner not contingent upon the patient's behavior. Findings indicate that the therapists respond in a significantly differential way to 5 of the 9 patient behavior classes studied. Concomitantly, significant increases in the emission rates of 4 of the 5 behavior classes were noted throughout therapy. Findings thus indicated significant reinforcement effects in the clientcentered therapy. The present study is aimed at exploring the possibility that important reinforcement effects occur within the transactions of nondirective therapy. Client-centered theorists have specified the "therapeutic conditions " of empathic understanding and acceptance or unconditional positive regard as two main antecedents to constructive behavioral or personality change