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.