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A number of studies suggest that therapist-client similarity is an important factor in client continuation in therapy and outcome (Carson & Heine, 1962;Heine & Trosman, 1960;Overall & Aaronson, 1963).Of particular interest is the series of studies by Carson (1967), McNair, Callahan, and Lorr (1962), and Whitehorn and Betz (1960 which tend to indicate that positive client outcome is related to therapist-client social class similarity. The existence of this relationship has been implied but not tested directly since therapist social class variability has not been examined. For example, McNair, Callahan, and Lorr (1962) speculated that the success of the "B" therapists with outpatients might have been related to the fact that the majority of their patients were from the lower or lowermiddle class and that "B" therapists generally are characterized by interests in skilled labor and technical activities.Studies dealing more directly with lower class clients' behavior in psychotherapy indicate that although such client dropout rate is usually excessively high, special training which enables therapists to behave in ways similar to the expecta-

First interview tape recordings of 13 high-and 32 low-facilitative therapists were studied in terms of relative change in client self-exploration and therapist levels of accurate empathy, positive regard, and genuineness after therapist-initiated confrontation. Although the absolute effect of confrontation appeared to be minimal, there were significant differences in the relative change scores of high-and low-facilitative therapists, particularly as a function of client categorization. A consistent finding was that across facilitative conditions, the low facilitators generally changed significantly more than the high facilitators, and significantly more so with students than with patients.A large number of studies (summarized by Carkhuff & Berenson, 1967; Truax & Carkhuff, 1967; and Truax & Mitchell, 1971) have demonstrated a significant relationship between therapist levels of accurate empathy, positive regard, and genuineness and client outcome. These studies show that therapists are not homogeneous (Kiesler, 1966) and at least two broad groups of therapists have been identified, those who offer at least minimally facilitative levels of the above-mentioned conditions and pro-

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