Abstract
The present research brings insight into listener's responses in psychotherapeutic counseling and advice sessions, as well as temporal changes in these responses. Four 50-minute counseling sessions were analyzed, of which two were negatively evaluated and two were positively evaluated (high evaluation counseling). In addition, two 50-minute ordinary advice sessions between two high school teachers and the clients from the high evaluation group were analyzed. All sessions represented role-playing. Three judges labeled the listeners' utterances into (a) utterances starting with an answer to the speaker's questions, (b) utterances starting with back-channels, (c) utterances starting with laughter, and (d) others. The results indicated that (a) and (c) are rather rare in counseling, and (b) occurs at a higher rate in counseling, as compared to advise sessions. Further, the occurrence of (b) and (d) in the two high evaluation counseling cases showed a similar time-series pattern, and this pattern corresponded to the time-series pattern of body movement synchrony. This pattern suggested a temporal structure in counseling sessions, that involves processes of counselor's understanding of the client and the client's changes.
