Intentional Interviewing and
Counseling:
Chapter 4 Observational Skills
9th Edition
Allen E. Ivey
Mary Bradford Ivey
Carlos P. Zalaquett
Copyright © 2018 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.
Introduction: Are You a Good
Observer?
• Observation -watching carefully and intentionally
with the purpose of understanding behavior.
• takes time and practice.
• Helps to get to know clients
• verbal and nonverbal behavior.
• Facilitates establishment of a working
relationship.
Introduction: Are You a Good
Observer?
Observation Skills: Observe your Anticipated Client Response:
own and the client’s verbal and
Observations provide specific
nonverbal behavior. Anticipate
data validating or invalidating
individual and multicultural
what is happening in the
differences in nonverbal and
session. Also, they provide
verbal behavior. Carefully and
guidance for the use of various
selectively feed back some
microskills and strategies. The
here-and-now observations to
smoothly flowing session will
the client as topics for
often demonstrate movement
exploration.
symmetry or complementarity.
Movement dyssnchrony
provides a clear clue that you
are not “in tune” with the client.
Awareness, Knowledge, and Skills:
Principles for Observation
A good place to start is by noticing your own way of being.
• Take a brief inventory of your own nonverbal style.
• You might begin by thinking back to your natural style of
attending, but expand those self-observations.
• What is your interpersonal style? What do you notice and how
might it affect your relationships with others?
Nonverbal Behavior
• Nonverbal behavior is often the first clue to what clients
are feeling underneath the language they use.
• While listening to a client’s story, we need to be
constantly aware of how he or she reacts to what we
say—both verbally and nonverbally.
• Your ability to observe will help you anticipate and
understand what is happening with your client.
• Be careful to watch for individual and cultural differences.
Nonverbal Behavior
Facial Expressions
• Smiling is a good indicator of warmth and caring.
• Important for developing relationships
• A client’s nonverbals give you important clues to what he
or she is experiencing and may include
• Brow furrowing; lips tightening or loosening; flushing; smiling at
inappropriate times; subtle color changes in the face as blood flow
reflects emotional reactions; breathing temporarily speeding up or
stopping; lips swelling; and pupils dilating or contracting.
Nonverbal Behavior
• Each culture has a different style of nonverbal
communication.
• Smiling is a sign of warmth in most cultures, but in some
situations, it may indicate discomfort. Patterns of eye contact
also vary by culture.
• Be careful not to assign to your clients your own ideas
about what is “standard” and appropriate nonverbal
communication.
• Study nonverbal communication patterns and their
variations.
Nonverbal Behavior
Body Language
People who are communicating well often “mirror” each other’s body
language. This is known as movement synchrony.
• Unconscious body movement synchrony has been discovered in neural
correlates and connectivity among and within specific brain regions.
• Movement complementarity refers to paired movements that may
not be identical but are still harmonious.
• Some experts deliberately “mirror” their clients.
•
Matching body language, breathing rates, and key words of the client can
enhance the counselor’s understanding of how the client perceives and
experiences the world.
Nonverbal Behavior
Body Language
• Particularly important are discrepancies in nonverbal
behavior, or movement dyssynchrony.
• Watch for times when clients suddenly change posture.
• Lack of harmony in movement is common between
people who disagree markedly, even between those who
may not be aware they have subtle conflicts.
Nonverbal Behavior
Acculturation Issues in Nonverbal Behavior: Avoid
Stereotyping
• Acculturation - the degree to which an individual has
adapted to the norms or standard way of behaving in a
given culture.
• No two people will be acculturated to general standards
in the same way.
• Consider biculturality and multiculturality. Many of your
clients will have more than one significant community
cultural experience.
Verbal Behavior
•
Three dimensions useful for direct verbal observation in
the session:
1. Key words
2. Concreteness versus abstractions
3. “I” statements versus “other” statements
Verbal Behavior
Key Words
• Note clients’ key words and help them explore the facts,
feelings, and meanings underlying those words.
• Key descriptive words are often the constructs by which
a client organizes the world; these words may reveal
underlying meanings.
• Joining clients by using their key words facilitates your
understanding and communication with them.
Verbal Behavior
Concreteness Versus Abstraction
Verbal Behavior
Concreteness Versus Abstraction
• Match client’s style and join client where he or she is.
• Help abstract clients become more concrete.
• “Could you give me an example?”
• Help concrete clients become more abstract and pattern
oriented.
• Best effected by a conscious effort to listen to their sometimes
lengthy stories very carefully.
Verbal Behavior
“I” Statements and “Other” Statements
• Clients’ ownership of and responsibility for issues will
often be shown in their “I” and “other” statements.
• May be predominately positive or negative.
• Need to achieve a balance between internal and external
responsibility for life issues.
Verbal Behavior
“I” and “Other” Statements
• Consider multicultural differences in the use of the word
“I.”
• English is one of the few languages in which “I” is
capitalized.
• Vietnamese has no reference to “I”.
Discrepancies, Mixed Messages,
and Conflict
Examples of Conflict Internal to the Client
• Discrepancies in Verbal Statements. In a single
sentence, a client may express two contradictory ideas.
Aid the client in understanding his or her ambivalence.
• Discrepancies Between Statements and Nonverbal
Behavior. Discrepancies between what one says and
what one does are very important.
Discrepancies, Mixed Messages
and Conflict
Examples of Conflicts Between the Client and the
External World
• Discrepancies and Conflict Between People. “I cannot
tolerate my neighbors.” Noting interpersonal conflict is a
key task of the counselor or psychotherapist.
• Discrepancies Between a Client and a Situation. In
such situations, the client’s ideal world is often
incongruent with reality. Discrimination, heterosexism,
sexism, and ableism represent situational discrepancies.
Discrepancies, Mixed Messages,
and Conflict
Discrepancies in Goals
• Goal setting is an important part of the empathic
relationship-story and strengths-goals-restory-action
model.
• You will often find that a client seeks incompatible goals.
Discrepancies, Mixed Messages,
and Conflict
Discrepancies Between You and the Client
• Be aware when your perspective conflicts with that of your client.
Discrepancies between:
• Verbal and nonverbal messages
• Ethnic/cultural experiences
• Gender/age differences
• Learning/personality styles and approaches