Expectancies and Behavior Change

Abstract

Envision an unattractive, wary, poorly educated client encountering a pessimistic, burned-out counselor who dreads coming to work each morning. Then contrast that scenario with that of an attractive, trusting, well-educated client meeting an enthusiastic, confident counselor who is glad to be of help. Both intuition and research results (Garfield, 1978) predict that therapeutic change is more likely in the latter case than in the former, but why exactly is that so? A number of explanations are possible, but this chapter focuses on the possibility that change is more likely in the second scenario because both counselor and client expect it to occur. Their expectations may influence the outcome of therapy by leading to behavior that produces desirable changes that, in the absence of those expectations, would not have occurred. In short, the belief that change will occur may be a powerful component in psychological therapy.