Reflective Listening in Counseling: Effects of Training Time and Evaluator Social Skills

Psychology students received a 14-, 28-, or 42-hour training course in reflective listening. Before and after training, the students participated in role-played counseling conversations with confederates, who rated them. The conversations were captured on audio- or videotape, categorized, and rated by external evaluators. Results suggested that the students used reflective listening equally after different lengths of training. However, longer training resulted in the confederates disclosing more emotion, the psychology students remembering the information relayed better, and the evaluators perceiving the therapeutic relationship as better. This was especially true among the evaluators who self-reported high social skills.