Journal article
Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Clients' Perceived Personality Similarity, Real Relationship, and Treatment Progress
Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), Vol.58(3), pp.353-365
09/01/2021
DOI: 10.1037/pst0000361
PMID: 33734745
Abstract
In the present study, we examined whether clients' perceptions of similarity to their therapists in terms of the Big Five personality traits were associated with the real relationship and, indirectly through the real relationship, to treatment progress. Data collected through an online crowdsource platform from 212 adult clients in individual psychotherapy were analyzed using polynomial regression and response surface analysis. Results indicated that clients who perceived greater similarity to their therapists at higher (vs. lower) levels of Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience reported stronger real relationships, as did clients who perceived greater similarity at lower (vs. higher) levels of Neuroticism. Similarly, clients reported a stronger real relationship when they perceived their therapists as similarly high in Extraversion, but the real relationship decreased slightly when the similarity was perceived at higher (vs. moderate) levels of this trait. Perceived similarity at high and low levels of Agreeableness was also associated with stronger real relationships. There was no evidence of an indirect association between client-perceived similarity and treatment progress via the real relationship. However, clients who perceived greater similarity to their therapists at higher (vs. lower) levels of Openness to Experiences and Conscientiousness reported more progress in treatment. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Do Birds of a Feather Flock Together? Clients' Perceived Personality Similarity, Real Relationship, and Treatment Progress
- Creators
- Andres E. Perez-Rojas - New Mexico State UniversityAvantika Bhatia - Ashoka UniversityD. Martin Kivlighan - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), Vol.58(3), pp.353-365
- DOI
- 10.1037/pst0000361
- PMID
- 33734745
- NLM abbreviation
- Psychotherapy (Chic)
- ISSN
- 0033-3204
- eISSN
- 1939-1536
- Publisher
- Educational Publishing Foundation-American Psychological Assoc
- Number of pages
- 13
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/01/2021
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry; Psychological and Quantitative Foundations; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984359786602771
Metrics
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