On the Intelligence of Counselors

Abstract

On the Intellkence of CounselorsPROFESSOR CARL ROGERS AND OTHERS have stated that client-centered counseling works best with highly intelligent clients and that it makes heavy demands upon the perceptive powers of the counselor. The APGA, APA, and other groups have recommended minimal programs of two post-graduate years for training counselors. Even a casual, a prior; analysis of counseling indicates that it works chiefly through the intellective powers of the persons concerned. Yet, there has been a remarkable lack of professional interest in the problem of the intelligence-level desirable in counselors. In some cases, there has been an open preference for the not-so-bright.In preparing this paper, I found that the Personnel and Gzlidance Jozlrnal has had no articles on this subject for the last ten years. A search of the Psychological Abstracts for five years back likewise revealed nothing. A review of all major books on guidance unearthed only a few statements. Here they are: Stoops and Wahlquist (1958, p. 138) This paper will argue that a counselor needs to be highly intelligent, and that, other things being equal, the more intelligent he is, the better. In a final exam for a recent guidance class, I asked students to cite one thing the instructor