Date of Award

11-1996

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Art

First Advisor

Pamela Nickels

Second Advisor

Jesse B. Harris Jr.

Third Advisor

Elizabeth Tarpey

Abstract

This study examined if there is any relationship between a counselor's personality, as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type indicator (MBTI), and the counselor's self-reported overall level of directiveness in counseling. A random sample of one-third of all of the Licensed Professional Counselors in the state of Missouri (N = 440) were mailed a 2 packet containing the MBTI Form G, a demographic form, and a Likert-type scale to indicate overall level of directiveness in counseling. For the 226 counselors who responded (51.4%), it was found that there was no relationship between level of directiveness and gender, years in practice, Extraversion/Introversion preference, or Judging/Perceiving preference. Statistically significant (alpha= .05) but weak relationships were found between directiveness and Sensing/iNtuition preference, Thinking/Feeling preference, and cognitive style (ST, SF, NT, and NF). Ss and Ts tended to be more directive. A slightly stronger relationship was found between directiveness and theoretical orientation. Post-hoc analyses of variances revealed that ISTJs and ENTJs were significantly more directive than INFPs; and that counselors whose theoretical orientations were Humanistic and Psychoanalytic/Object Relations were significantly less directive than counselors whose orientations were Adlerian, REBT, Cognitive, Cognitive/Behavioral, Reality Therapy, and Family Systems. Results indicated that the 16 types are discrete entities, rather than mere combinations of the 4 preferences. Overall, directiveness was more strongly associated with theoretical orientation than with type. Implications for multicultural counseling and counselor education are discussed.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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