CONVERGENCE:

A PHENOMENON IN COUNSELING AND IN PSYCHOTHERAPY:

HAROLD B. PEPINSKY AND THOMAS O. KARST
Ohio State University

lOUNSELING" and "psychotherapy" are changing the client, has an observable and measur-

"C labels for a special kind of interaction

between persons. Unless otherwise spec-
ified (e.g., with a modifier such as "group" or
able counterpart in therapist-patient "expectancies"
about the interaction; and we are simply asserting
—in a manner consistent with empirical findings—
"multiple") the process of interaction may be as- that observable interactional change during the
sumed to occur under the following conditions: course of a therapy is related, in kind and degree,
(a) It involves two persons, one member of the to these expectancies (see Goldstein, 1962). For
pair who is designated as "counselor" or "psy- this to happen as a therapeutic process, by defini-
chotherapist" and the other, as "client" or "pa- tion, the first three conditions must also be
tient"; (b) the two persons are together long satisfied.
enough for interaction to take place, which may
range from a single episode, lasting only for a CONVERGENCE DURING THERAPY
brief interval of clock time, to longer periods,
The postulated interactional change in state on
repeated on one or more weekly occasions over
which this paper focuses is one that, following the
a number of years; (c) the two persons interact
lead of Sherif (1936) and Asch (1952), we have
directly with each other (e.g., not through a third
labeled as convergence. Sherif's and Asch's pioneer
person and without externally imposed delay in
experiments on group norm-setting behavior, out of
feedback), saliently by means of spoken language
which the present concept of convergence derives,
but also by other sound and physical movement;
are prototypic of later work on what is now apt to
and (d) the verbal and nonverbal interaction of
be called "conformity" behavior. In the present
the two persons is instrumental to producing in the
context, we prefer the earlier term. As originally
client or patient member of the pair a change in
used by these authors, the term "convergence"
state (Pepinsky & Pepinsky, 1954, pp. 71-73),
referred to a lessening of discrepancy in judgments
which may vary widely, e.g., from an overt social
made by pairs (or larger groups) of subjects
"reconditioning" (Krasner, 1962) to the modifica-
exposed to the stimulus of a stationary point of
tion of an inner, existential "being" (Rogers,
light in an otherwise darkened room. Among early
1959). In this paper, the process will be referred
experimental manipulations and findings the fol-
to as "therapy," and the two protagonists in it,
lowing are pertinent. Individual subjects who
as "therapist" and "client."
watched the light reported different amounts of
If the above conditions of a therapeutic process
movement in it (the autokinetic effect); when
are warranted, by their occurrence as observable
asked to watch the light in pairs, following the
events, then one may postulate that, during the
individual session, their discrepancies in judgment
course of the therapy, a related and observable
tended to become less over successive group ses-
change in state occurs in the interaction of thera-
sions. In contrast, subjects who were first paired
pist and client. For example, Condition d, which
tended immediately to reconcile their differences in
specifies that the interaction is instrumental to
judgment; and when individually presented the
a
This paper was presented at a symposium on "Social stimulus, after the group sessions, tended to retain
Influence, Counseling, and Psychotherapy," at American their similarity in judgment. In related experi-
Psychological Association, Phildelphia, August 1963; its ments it was found that when one member of each
preparation was supported in part by the Behavioral
Sciences Section, Air Force Office of Scientific Research,
pair had been instructed in advance by the experi-
under Grant No. AF 49(538)-373. Special thanks are menter to hold to a fixed judgment, his unin-
due Karl E. Weick for helpful advice and criticism. structed partner tended to shift in his judgment
333
334 AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST
toward that of the instructed member of the pair.2
The last experimental condition and the kind of
convergence it tends to elicit, i.e., a shift in belief on
the part of the uninstructed subject toward that of
the instructed subject, is especially germane to what
Frank (1959, 1961) has described as a "successful"
therapeutic interaction. As he states the case, a
therapy is likely to be viewed by the two par-
ticipants as successful when the therapist (the
healer) is able to persuade his client (the sufferer)
to alter his despair over his condition to hope for
his recovery. The key to the process is the ability
of the therapist to influence the client either to
change his beliefs or to modify his behavior, or to
do both things; in Frank's view this is the reason
why therapists with widely different therapeutic
rationales and rituals can legitimately claim suc-
cesses. And Frank draws an analogy between
psychotherapeutic belief and ritual, on the one
hand, and the use of placebos, religious revivalism,
Chinese thought reform, faith healing, etc., on the
other. His paradigm, it should be noted, is the
laboratory-experimental study "of the processes by
which one person influences another [1961, p. 97]."
Frank also suggests that a therapist's success in
"indoctrinating" his client toward a change in state
through the process of therapy is highly related
to a previous indoctrination, which the therapist
himself has undergone and by which he is induced
to believe in the efficacy of his own therapeutic
ritual; the analytic training institute is used to
afford a clear illustration of how such antecedent
indoctrination may take place. If for "previously
indoctrinated therapist" we now substitute the
phrase "previously instructed subject" and if we
substitute for "the client" the phrase "naive sub-
ject," the analogy drawn by Frank between the
process of therapy and experimental studies of
social influence processes becomes even more com-
plete. Thus, we may anticipate finding in the
therapeutic interaction itself a dependent event of
convergence analogous to that of convergence in
judgment-making and other behavior found in
the laboratory by Sherif, Asch, et al., wherein the
client shifts in degree toward norms and standards
made available to him by the therapist. And, as
will be shown, the analogy is useful in suggesting
2
Reference to Asch's 1937 experiments on subjects' shifts
in judgment as related to manipulation of the autokinetic
phenomenon may be found in Sherif and Cantril (1947,
pp. 53-55).
meaningful propositions about convergence in the
therapeutic interaction and other events that
appear to be logically related to it.3
Fortunately, as implied earlier, there exists an
abundance of empirical evidence to support our
general thesis that interactional changes in state
do occur during therapy. One of the most ex-
haustive and relevant studies that we know of was
made by Lennard and Bernstein (Lennard et al.,
1960), who obtained verbatim recordings of eight
therapies, each lasting for nearly a year and
providing SOO treatment hours, more than 120 of
which were coded and analyzed. The analysis
included nearly 6,000 exchanges and more than
41,000 verbal propositions, multiply coded. Al-
though the amount of information yielded for
analysis by the authors' application of a computer
technology is almost too staggeringly large to be
comprehensible, Lennard (1962) has more recently
summarized their findings relative to "therapy . . .
as a[n] ... interaction system," and reports "in-
creasing correlation over time between specific
kinds of patient and therapist communications
[p. 225]." Most relevantly, this finding also
provides support for our postulate of a therapist-
client convergence during a therapy.
Indeed, in examining others' systematic dis-
cussions of the therapeutic process and their sup-
porting evidence, we are struck more by the
relevance and potential utility of the convergence
postulate than by its spanking newness. Thus,
Matarazzo (in press) and Heller (1963), among
others, have clearly demonstrated that the
therapist's behavior can "shape" that of his client.
Frank's (1959, 1961) brilliantly lucid and scholarly
discussion of the therapist's indoctrinating par-
ticipation and its effects upon the patient has
already been cited; so has Goldstein's (1962)
splendidly organized discussion of therapeutic
interaction in relation to therapist-client expect-
ancies. The latter authors have a good deal to
say about conditions that seem to be logically and
empirically antecedent to "convergence," as we
3
In fact, the social-psychology laboratory-therapy anal-
ogy can be extended, as suggested by R. Rosenthal (1963).
On the one hand, we have "the mediation of E's bias via
his research assistants [p. 279]," and, on the other, the
"experienced" therapist's "biasing" effects upon a neo-
phyte's therapy through an antecedent "good" or "poor"
prognosis (see also Frank, 1961; Goldstein, 1962). This
antecedent biasing effect upon the therapeutic encounter
will be discussed in a forthcoming paper.
 CONVERGENCE
conceptualize it. Moreover, a wealth of supportive
evidence and implication can be found in the report
of the second APA-sponsored conference on Re-
search in Psychotherapy (Strupp & Luborsky,
1962). Lennard (1962), for example, suggests
that future studies will identify "general principles
governing the way In which one individual changes
another through communication [p. 235, italics
added]," Krasner (1962) cites considerable evi-
dence to show how therapists and (clients) can
and do exercise "behavior control" to "influence"
clients' behavior. Butler, Rice, and Wagstaff
(1962) are able to generalize that client "respon-
siveness" to therapist "expressiveness" is directly
related to what "the same therapist calls successful
treatment [see Saslow's 'Final Summary'—1962,
p. 302]." Interestingly enough, the more "expres-
sive" therapist is also shown to be more "experi-
enced." Again, Frank (1962) adds his inference
that "the ability of the therapist's formulations to
directly modify the [client's] feelings" mediates
"cognitive insights" in the client, "which can
influence [the client's] behavior [p. 11]." Levin-
son's (1962) paper is representative of several
research reports that imply a relationship between
"social class" of therapist and client, on the one
hand, and what we refer to as convergence, on the
other.
Elsewhere, D, Rosenthal's (19SS) research im-
plies that the therapist-client interaction may
influence the client to shift toward a pattern of
"moral values" more consistent with that of the
therapist. Glad (1959) even postulates that
Freudian, Sullivanian, Rankian, and Rogerian
therapists differ essentially in the "values" that
they "teach" the client during therapy. The impor-
tance of inducing "desirable" value change in the
client as a therapeutic goal is argued, e.g., by Glad
(1959) and Samler (1960). In this vein, Rotter
(1954, 1962) prescribes a "successive structuring"
of the therapeutic situation by the therapist. This
would draw upon the therapist's knowledge of
personality theory (what to change in the client),
his value system (what the "good" changes are),
and a theory of learning (how to change) to deter-
mine how the therapist is to behave toward the
client during a therapeutic interaction. In Kelly's
(1955) "fixed role therapy" the client's "personal
construct system" is to be explicitly modified by
the therapist. Thus, Glad, Rotter, and Kelly are
alike in arguing that the therapeutic interaction
335
must bring about a change in the client as the
therapist wants him to change although one would
expect minimal agreement among these authors
on the "what," the "good," and the "how." Rotter
(1962) makes a nice point in this regard by
showing how Kelly (1955) and Rogers (1959)
deal with similar phenomenal content but wind up
with highly diverse objectives and procedures.
Using Frank's (1961) scheme, we may characterize
Rogers as an "evocative" therapist; Kelly as
"directive"; e.g., the latter focused in his thera-
peutic goals, the former more open-ended. Yet,
according to Frank, both therapists would be
"persuasive" in their attempts to induce change in
the client during therapy, for any "evocative"
therapy has an ideology that can be made explicit
(cf. Samler, 1960).
In light of the above systematic, empirical, and
hortative support for our concept, let us assume
that every therapeutic interaction is characterized
by an amount of convergence, which involves a
measurable shift in client behavior toward that
of the therapist. But what is the nature of the
convergence in which we are interested? And what
research strategy might be used in eliciting in-
formation about it? Suppose we now postulate a
more explicit interactional process in which the
client acquires a psychological grammar * made
available to him by the therapist. We may define
"psychological grammar" in this context as (a)
categories of belief and action and (b) rules of
belief and action introduced by the therapist. By
definition, the client converges toward the therapist
in the therapeutic interaction to the extent that
(a) during the course of the therapy the therapist
makes such a grammar available to the client, and
(b) the client makes use of it. The postulated
event of convergence is assumed to have as its
empirical counterpart a phenomenon that is, in
principle, observable in any therapeutic situation
and measurable in amount. We recognize that,
empirically, convergence is not likely to be a
strictly one-way phenomenon: i.e., part of the
therapist's grammar may be acquired from his
client.
RESEARCH ON THE COVERGENCE PROCESS
The postulated event of convergence suggests a
number of research tasks, which will be outlined
* This term has been adapted from Johnson (1963).
336 AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST
below. One set of tasks is centered on study of
the phenomenon itself; a second set, on the postu-
lation of (a) logical antecedents to convergence as
well as (b) its logical consequences, and with tests
of empirical predictions implied by statements of
relationship.
The Study of Convergence
Our proposed initial research strategy differs
from that employed by many previous students of
therapy, for we assume that the content of a
therapeutic grammar may be arrived at inductively
by a careful reading of individual therapy proto-
cols, supplemented by the viewing of sound films
taken of the same original therapeutic interactions.
It appears likely that the latter observational
material will add contextual meaning to the
language of a typescript.5 It may be, for example,
that every therapist-client pairing evokes its own
idiosyncratic grammar; yet there is warrant for
believing that experienced therapists will be more
likely than inexperienced ones to be consistent
from client to client in the kind of grammar that
they make available to clients (cf. Hoffman, 19 59).
The important pioneer research contributions of
Rogers and Robinson and their students (e.g.,
Robinson, 1950, 1955; Seeman & Raskin, 1953)
provide important methodological guidelines for
typescript analysis, some of which are seemingly
ignored in later research. Illustratively, researchers
such as Lennard and Bernstein (Lennard et al.,
1960) might have added to their harvest of findings
had their sampling within interviews been based on
meaningful context units rather than units of clock
time (e.g., see Danskin, 1959; Muthard, 1958).
A Search for Antecedents
A review of previous research studies indicates
a number of possible antecedents to the con-
vergence phenomenon; formal postulation of rela-
tionships will not be attempted in this discussion.
One such category, as suggested by Frank (1959,
1961) and Heller (1963), may be labeled as
"social persuasion"; following Goldstein (1962)
6
We are heartened in this view by reports from
Frederick Kanfer and Robert Rosenthal, who are among
those using sound films in their systematic inquiry into
interpersonal behavior (R. Rosenthal, 1963, p. 279; also
personal communications, May S, 1963). Also, Johnson
(1963) shows that contextual cues add to the meaningful-
ness of language analysis.
another category may be conceived of as therapist
and client "expectancies" for the therapy and its
outcomes. Still another, given extensive review by
Krasner (e.g., 1962), may be described as "rein-
forcement" by the therapist of a desired client
grammar. Finally, but not exhaustively, a major
group of antecedents includes the training and
indoctrination of the therapist (e.g., see Frank,
1961; Levinson, 1962). In this context a scheme
of organizational power and member compliance,
such as that presented by Etzioni (1961), may
help us to inquire into the relationship between
antecedent sociocultural and organizational in-
volvements of the therapist, on the one hand, and
the kinds and amounts of convergence he is able
to elicit from different classes of clients, on the
other.
Some Possible Consequences
A number of the studies and discussions cited
above also indicate that convergence in therapy
has potential importance, not only as a dependent
event, but as a precursor of still other therapeutic
consequences. As implied by the arguments of
Glad (1959) and Frank (1961), for instance, the
event of convergence may be followed by "success"
in otherwise widely different kinds of therapy.
Indeed, empirical knowledge of the grammar in-
troduced by a therapist and assimilated by his
client may be valuable in pointing up more ex-
plicitly than is customary in therapy research what
changes the therapist is attempting to effect in
his client and what the criteria for "improvement"
should be—in the therapist's own terms! From
this analysis specific, as well as general, predic-
tions about therapeutic outcomes can be made and
tested. Still other events, such as extratherapeutic
interpersonal attraction, client attitude formation
and change, and even his mannerisms and other
expressive movements, may be shown to vary with
convergence in therapy, adding to its construct
validity.
Other Studies
We shall conclude this introductory paper by
suggesting some other research implications of the
convergence postulate. First, it affords meaning-
fulness and focus to the making of a social-
structural analysis of the therapeutic process.
Thus, by reference to our concept R. Rosenthal's
(1963) seminal research on "experimenter bias"
 CONVERGENCE
can be made highly relevant to a functional
analysis (Merton, 1957) of the therapeutic process.
Rosenthal, like Frank (1959) and Goldstein
(1962), has discussed the "biasing" effects of
antecedent expectancies upon the therapeutic proc-
ess. One may well ask, "What is the 'latent func-
tion' (what are the unexpected consequences?)
of a therapeutic encounter, as against its 'manifest
function' (those consequences overtly intended by
the therapist)?" Analysis of the kind and amount
of convergence that occurs could help us to answer
this type of question. Again, the study of con-
vergence and events related to it may be helpful
in describing the forms that a therapist's bias may
take; e.g., we may be able to state more explicitly
than Gilbert and Levinson (1957) what are the
denning attributes of a "custodial" versus a
"humanitarian" treatment—or to discover still
other dimensions.6
Second, research on therapeutic convergence
may help to make clear in what ways therapy, as
a social event, may differ from other diadic rela-
tionships in everyday life (Pepinsky, 1961). For
example, scalar judgments of simple to complex
applied to the grammar introduced may provide an
empirical answer to the old (and often tiresome)
question about differences between psychotherapy
and counseling. It is possible that counseling
simply involves fewer categories and less complex
as well as fewer rules than psychotherapy. Related
scalar judgments, implied by Butler et al.'s (1962)
research, could be made along a continuum of a
well-communicated to poorly communicated gram-
mar. It may be that the more expressive therapist
of Butler et al.'s description is able to make his
grammar more available to his client than is the
less expressive therapist.
With these scalar judgments and others like
them one may be able to study empirically and
meaningfully salient differences among the psy-
chological grammars of, say, lawyers, pastoral
counselors, and housewives. Illustratively, Mar-
garet Rioch's (Golann, 1963; Magoon, 1963;
Rioch, 1963) previously uninstructed housewives,
who were trained to become psychotherapists, may
be successful because their grammar is simpler
and perhaps better communicated than that of, say,
8 machine. In H. H. Strupp & L. Luborsky (Eds.),
Lennard's (1962) data on unintentional "system-
maintaining" behavior manifested by therapist and client
are also pertinent here.
337
psychiatrists- or psychologists-in-training. It may
be that the latter, as against the former, simply
tend to "lose" their clients in a morass of words.7
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