PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

James Chin

MA-Research
August 2005

The Role of Counselor Ethnicity and Racial Attitudes in Initial Counselor Effectiveness Ratings
by Asian American and Euro-American College Students

    The goal of this study was to investigate the role of client and counselor ethnicity in Euro-American and Asian American clients’ initial perceptions of Euro-American and Asian American counselors, and to examine the possible moderators of this effect such as negative racial attitude and perceived similarity.  On the other hand, occupational stereotyping was hypothesized to moderate the effect of counselor ethnicity on perceptions of counselor in the absence of the proposed ethnic match effect.  One hundred forty-six Euro-American and Asian American undergraduate students were recruited to participate as fictional clients in the study.  Client students rated a pictured counselor on perceived effectiveness.  No significant effect of counselor and client ethnicities was found on the client students’ overall perceptions of the counselors; however, the Asian American counselor was rated higher in expertness.  Analyses revealed perceived similarity to be the most significant predictor of counselor ratings.  Implications of the findings are discussed.

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