Jack E. Brown

Date of Award

8-1-1971

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Counseling Psychology & Community Services

Abstract

Problem

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of immediate feedback of congruence by subjects in group counseling. Measures of outcome included the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS), Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientations-Behavior (FIRO-B), the Tentative Scale for the Measurement of Genuineness and a time measure of the relative amount of time that the focus of attention within the groups was perceived to be congruent, incongruent or neutral.

Procedure

There were two studies with twenty-three subjects in the first study and twenty-five subjects in the second study. The subjects were volunteer university students who were randomly assigned to one of four groups in their respective studies. The membership of the groups also included two facilitators who contributed on-light time and genuineness scale data.

The use of a specially constructed instant feedback device constituted the independent variable in the experiment. Group A focused on congruence and received feedback from the device. Group B focused on congruence but did not receive feedback from the device. Group C did not use the feedback device in any way. Group D served as the control group and did not mean for group sessions. The subjects in groups A and B pressed green, white and red buttons in the instant feedback device which signified congruence, neutrality or incongruence. There were eight one and one-half hour sessions for groups A, B and C.

Results

The following significant findings resulted from the investigation:

1. There was a significant difference on one of the twenty-two TSCS variables when the subjects from both studies were combined into four groups on-the basis of treatment after pre-test differences were covaried out. The true/false ratio variable was significantly different at the .05 level. Dunn's "c" demonstrated that group A was significantly higher than groups C and D on this variable.

2. There was a significant difference on one of the six FIRO-B variables in the first study. Expressed affection was significantly different at the .01 level after pre-test differences were covaried out. Dunn's "c" demonstrated that group C was significantly higher than groups A and B at the .05 level.

3. There was a significant difference on one of the six FIRO-B variables in the second study. Wanted inclusion was significantly different at the .05 level after pre-test differences were covaried out. Utilizing Dunn's "c", group A was significantly higher than group C at the .05 level.

4. There was a significant difference at the .001 level when the groups from both studies were analyzed separately on the Tentative Scale for the Measurement of Genuineness. Dunn's "c" demonstrated that group A from the first study was significantly higher than group B of the first study, group A from the first study was significantly higher than group C of the second study, group B from the first study was significantly higher than group C of the first study, group C from the first study was significantly higher than group C of the second study and group B from the second study was significantly higher than group C of the second study.

5. There was a significant difference for the Tentative Scale for the Measurement of Genuineness data from the second study. Group C was significantly higher than groups A and B in this study.

6. There was a significant difference for the amount of green light time when the four groups from both studies were analyzed separately. Group A from the first study was significantly higher than group A of the second study.

7. There was a significant difference on the white light times when the four groups from both studies were analyzed separately. Group A from the first study was significantly higher than group A of the second study and group B from the first study was significantly higher than group A of the second study.

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