FACULTY OF GRADUATE S TUDI ES by
Kazim iera Stypka
Jagiellonian University, (1964-1969) M.A., University of Chicago, 1973 M.Ed., Loyola University of Chicago, 1981 A D issertation Submitted in P artial Fulfillm ent of th e
Requirem ents for the D egree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in th e D epartm ent of Psychological Foundations in Education
We accep t this dissertation as conforming to the required standard
py.Dfcr^ance I^eav^-SuSertnsor
(Departm enVbf PsychologicalFoundations in Education)
Prof. RSy A. Carr, D epartm ental Member (D eyartm ent/pf Psychological Foundations in Education)
Dr. CTBrian Harve“y r® e p a ^ n ie n ta l Member (D epartm ent of Psychological Foundations in Education)
Dr. Josepff F. Kess, Outside Member (D epartm ent of Linguistics)
Dr. Larry R. Cochran, E xternal Examiner (University of British Columbia)
© KAZIMIF"A STYPKA, 1992 University of V ictoria ’* T F
All rights reserved. D issertation may not be reproduced in whole or in p art, by photocopying or o th er means, w ithout the permission of th e author.
ABSTRACT
This dissertation is a descriptive study of clients' s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n s in counselling. Using naturally occurring counselling interview s as a source of d ata and an adaptation of ethnomethodology and conversational analysis as th e prim ary research method, clients' s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n s are ex p licated and form ally described. The focus of th e study is on th e conversational, in te ra c tio n a l and linguistic practices used by clients in th e production of th e ir s tra te g ic self-presentations. The d a ta consist of tw enty tap e-reco rd ed and tran scrib ed counselling interview s collected through the counselling services of a com m unity college. A fter th e initial analysis of the d ata, instances of clien ts' s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio ns are selected and analyzed in detail.
The findings o f this study are th e following: (1) th a t clients in counselling situations use various stra te g ic self-p resen tatio ns, such as: self-en h an cem en t, self-prom otion, ing ratiation and self-aggrandizem ent; (2) th a t clien ts c o n stru c t th eir self-presentational stra te g ie s according to th e ir own in teractio n al sty le , th e ir perception o f the counselling and the goal of th e counselling; (3) th a t th e main conversational p ractices in th e construction of tents' self-p resen tatio n s include: adjacency pairs, through which th e client in itia tes th e se lf-p resen tatio n a l talk, and form ulation, through which th e counsellor acknowledges or recognizes the accom pJishm ent of the clien t-in itiate d strateg y ; (4) th a t oth er in te ra c tio n a l featu res and devices are used in the construction of clien ts' s tra te g ic self-presentatio ns, including paralinguistic featu res, agreem ents and com plim ents.
This study rep resen ts a d ifferen t approach to th e study of in teractio n betw een clients and counsellors, through the exam ination of discourse as it occurs in actu al counselling interview s.
Examiners:
Dr. R.^Vahtfe^Peavy, fedjServisor \
(D epartm ent of P^ychologic&kFofipidations in Education)
Prof. R e^
A.
CarrJT d e p a rtm e n ta l Member(Depam/ment of Psychological Foundations in Education)
Dr. C. BrianFTarvey,‘DepartfaiSftta l Member
(D epartm ent of Psychological Foundations in Education)
Dr. Joseph F. Kess, O utside Member (D epart rp^iit of Linguistics)
Dr. L arry-ft. Cochran, E xternal Examiner (U niversity of B ritish Columbia)
TABLE OF CONTENTS A b s t r a c t ... ii Table o f C o n t e n t s ... List o f Figures . ... A c k n o w le d g e m en ts... D e d ic a t io n ... Chapter 1: Introduction... ... 1 1.1 The s t u d y ... ... 1
1.2 The need for the study -- r a ti o n a le ... . . . . ... 1
1.3 The purpose of the s tu d y ... ... ... ... 8
1.4 D e f i n i t i o n s ... ... 9 1.4.1 Impression m a n a g e m e n t... ... 9 1.4.2 S e lf - p r e s e n t a ti o n ... . . . . 1C 1.4.3 S trateg ic s e lf-p re s e n ta tio n ... . . . . 11 1.4.4 S elf-presentation and s e lf-d is c lo s u re ... . . . . 13 1.4.5 Discourse . . . . ... . . . . 14 1.4.6 Discourse analysis . ... . . . . 15 1.4.7 C o n v e r s a ti o n ... . . . . 15 1.4.8 Conversational analys’s ... . . . . 15 1.4.9 U tte r a n c e ... . . . . 16 1.5 R esearch q u e s t i o n s ... . . . . 16 1.6 R esearch a p p r o a c h ... . . . . 16
1.6.1 Epistem ologieal basis for the research approach . . . . . 17
1.6.2 Conceptual basis of ethnomethodology and conversational a n a l y s i s ... . . . . 19
1.6.3 Basic m ethodological p r i n c i p l e s ... . . . . 24
1.6.4 Strengths of the s t u d y ... 1.6.5 Lim itations of the s t u d y ... Chapter 2: Review o f the lit e r a t u r e ... 2.1 S tatus of th e o re tic al views on strateg ic self-presentation in interpersonal i n t e r a c t i o n ... . . . . £2
2.2 S tatus of th e research on self-p resentational stra te g ie s ... 2.3 C urren t sta tu s of th e research on strateg ic self-presen tation s in c o u n s e l l i n g ... ... . . . . 44
2.4 Verbal stra te g ic self-p resentation s ... . 47
C hapter 3: R esearch m e th o d o lo g y ... 52 3.1 R esearch p r o c e d u r e ... 52 3.1.1 S e t t i n g ... 52 3.1.2 D ata c o l l e c t i o n ... 53 3.1.3 D ata s e le c tio n ... 53 3.1.4 T r a n s c r i p tio n ... 54 3.1.5 P a r tic ip a n ts ... 54 3.1.6 Specific procedure of d a ta a n a ly s is ... 58
3.2 Issues of validity and r e l i a b i l i t y ... 63
C h ap ter 4: Findings and d iscu ssio n ... 69
4.1 The repo rting of f i n d i n g s ... 69
4.1.1 The organization of the counselling in te r v ie w ... 70
4.1.2 S tartin g the counselling i n t e r v i e w ... 70
4.2 The s tru c tu re of clien ts' stra te g ic se lf-p re s e n ta tio n ... 77
4.2.1 A djacency p a i r s ... 79
4.2.2 Form ulation ... 82
4.3 O rganizing clients' stra te g ic self-presentation d i s c o u r s e ... 83
4.3.1 The basic s e q u e n c e s ... 83
4.3.2 The production of topic -- self-enhancing, self-prom oting stra te g ic s e l f - p r e s e n t a t i o n s ... 87
4.4 V ariations in th e organization of clients' strateg ic s e lf - p r e s e n ta tio n ... 93
4.4.1 M ulti-strategic s e lf-p re s e n ta tio n ... 93
4.4.2 In gratiation as clients' stra te g ic s e lf-p re s e n ta tio n ... 96
4.4.3 S elf-aggrandizem ent as stra te g ic s e lf - p r e s e n ta tio n ... 103
4.5 C h a ra c te ristic featu res and devices of clients' s tra te g ic se lf-p re s e n ta tio n s ... 107
4.5.1 C onversational organization and s t r u c t u r e ... 107
4.5.2 P ersonal topic f o c u s ...108
4.5.3 In tera ctiv e and ritu alistic d e v i c e s ...108
4.5.4 P aralinguistic f e a t u r e s ... 109
4.6 D i s c u s s i o n ... 109
C h ap ter 5: C o n c lu s io n s ... 112
5.1 S u m m a r y ... 112
5.2 Im plications and re c o m m e n d a tio n s... 116
A p p e n d ix ... - ... 155 A .l Transcription conventions . . . ... 156 A.2 T r a n s c r ip ts ...158 Interview # 1 ... 159 Interview # 4 ... 169 Interview # 1 0 ... 180 Interview # 1 1 ... 191 Interview #23 ... 201 Interview # 2 4 ... 211 Interview #25 ... 221 Interview # 3 1 ... 236 Interview #33 ... 246 Interview #34 ... 256 Interview #36 ... 268 Interview # 3 7 ... 281 Interview #38 ... 294 Interview #43 ... 308 Interview # 4 5 ... 316 Interview #49 ... 331 Interview #50 ... 339 Interview # 5 1 ... 351 Interview #76 ... 367 Interview #78 ... 374
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The basic organization of hierarchical
a c tiv itie s in th e counselling i n t e r v i e w ... 76
Figure 2: Adjacency pairs: Based on Sacks e t al. ( 1 9 7 4 )... 80
Figure 3: The basic sequential stru c tu re used in
clients' s tra te g ic s e lf-p re s e n ta tio n ... 84
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge th e assistance and support of numerous individuals who fa c ilita te d th e research and production of this dissertation.
I am especially appreciative of the support received from my supervisor, Dr. R. Vance Peavy who, in his ta c it and y et forceful m anner, inspired and m otivated my venturing into th e study of th e realm of language in counselling, and who has always encouraged my academ ic endeavours throughout the p ast few years.
The d ata could not have been co llected w ithout, firs t, th e assistan ce o f Nancy Willihnganz, the D irector of Counselling Services a t Camosun College, who supported this study by making available th e opportunity to m eet th e counselling s ta ff and, second, th e cooperation of feur counsellors who tap e-reco rd ed th e ir counselling sessions. Very special thanks are due to Nancy Jones, Mary Ellen King, Joe Beales and Chris Balm er, and to th e ir clients who agreed to have th e ir counselling sessions recorded.
I wish to express thanks to my supervisory com m ittee, Dr. C. Brian H arvey, Dr. Joseph F. Kess, Prof. Rey A. C arr, and to Dr. Ronald A. Hoppe, fo r th e ir willingness to serve on the co m m ittee, read my work, and provide valuable suggestions. I especially wish to thank Dr. Kess for his consultation tim e and ex p ert advice on discourse analysis m atters.
My g re a te s t debt is to my husband, John H. Esling, who has been a co n stan t source of support, encouragem ent, and help. Without him, this d issertatio n would not be possible.
To the two most im portant people in my life:
This work is dedicated to John -- who has always inspired me to be inquisitive and daring, whose co n stan t help and support teach me about caring, and whose work eth ic inspires me to persevere - - and to N atalia who brings meaning to my life.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The study
This study describes how clients p resent them selves strateg ica lly in the counselling interview . Audio recordings of naturally occurring counselling interview s have been examined for occurrences of clients' stra te g ic
self-p resen tatio n s. Discourse analysis of th e excerpts was conducted, drawing largely from the perspectives of sociological research approaches:
ethnom ethodology and conversational analysis. The major analytical in te re s t in clien ts' verbal s tra te g ic self-presentations is in how they are co n stru cted and im pliedly organized through "artful" use c f conversation, with an em phasis on the com m onsensical, th e "seen but unnoticed" (Garfinkel, 1967) fe a tu re of th e
phenom ena in the counselling interview . The phenomena of clien ts' s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n s are described in term s of th eir in teractio n al, s tru c tu ra l and organizational p ro perties and functions in th e counselling process.
1.2 The need for the study — rationale
For over tw enty years, most of the th e o re tic al approaches to and research on counselling considered a client's impression of th e counsellor to be one o f the m ost essential featu res influencing therapeutic change (Corrigan, Dell, Lewis &
Schm idt, 1980; Strong 4c Matross, 1973). The basis fo r th e im portance of the counsellor's powerful role in the counselling process was established by Strong's
(1968) conceptualization of counselling as an interpersonal influence process in which th e counsellor's c h ara cteristics and actions e ffe c t the clien t's change. Strong (1868) asserted th a t a client would be more likely to accep t a counsellor's opinion if the clien t perceived the counsellor as expert, a ttra c tiv e and
knowledgeable. In this modei of counselling, while the counsellor's c h a ra c te ristic s and verbal interventions influence th e client's em otions, behaviours and
cognitions, the clien t's behaviour is considered im portant as long as the client rem ains unresistant to th e counsellor's influence. To d ate, the counselling lite ra tu re re fle c ts this unidirectional model of influence.
More recen tly , Strong (1982) and Strong and Claiborn (1982) have introduced a new, "tw o-w ay in teractio n al model," conceptualizing counselling as social
influence in which counsellor and clien t are "exchanging inform ation and engaging in recip ro cal influence" (Strong & Claiborn, 1982, p. 62). According to Strong and Claiborn, "the in teractio n model focuses on th e function of behaviour in lim iting, prom oting, or otherw ise alterin g another's behaviour, and assumes changes in behaviour of e ith e r p articip an t to be a function of variables th a t arise in th e ir in teractio n " (1982, p. 52). The new model of social influence in counselling advo cates the counsellor's and the clien t's c h ara cteristics and actions as
recipro cally and m utually effectin g. Essentially, th erap eu tic change is a resu lt of th e dynam ics of social interactio n, and not an intrapsychic process as postu lated in th e unidirectional model. The basic prom ise of the in teractio n al model of counselling is th a t "managing others' im pressions of one's c h a ra c te ristic s and vulnerabilities is a v ital p a rt of relationship control" (ibid., p. 33), and th e re fo re, "im pression m anagem ent is a c ritic a l aspect o f interpersonal rela*ionships" (ibid., p. 32). In oth er words, th e in teractio n al view of counselling assumes th a t
"although th e client has sought counselling because of d issatisfaction with
personal circum stances, this same clien t will a tte m p t to influence th e counsellor's behaviour" (Dorn, 1984, p. 343).
From th e interaction al perspective of counselling, the counsellor's and the clien t's behaviour are considered to be reciprocally and m utually reinforcing, Several re c e n t studies of verbal interaction in the counselling relationship have provided evidence of mutual interdependence of client and counsellor behaviours. For exam ple, Lichtenberg and Barke (1981) exam ined selected counselling
interview s by the well-known therapists, Ellis, Peris and Rogers, representing th e o re tic ally distin ct orientations, and found th a t counsellor-client dyads had sy m m etrical and transition al p attern s. It was concluded th a t the relationship of counsellor and clien t was transactio nal, not controlled by th e counsellor as norm ally assumed in many th e o re tic al approaches. In another study, Friedlander and Phillips (1984) exam ined the in teractiv e discourse of early interview s and suggested th e existence of p attern s in establishing a working relationship betw een counsellor and clien t. They concluded th a t early interview s can be c h ara cterized as active e ffo rts of both th e client and counsellor to define the problem and to neg o tiate who will take responsibility for the in teractio n . Their analysis of discourse indicated th a t th e re are common p a tte rn s of in teractio n in the initial stag es of th e counselling process.
The assum ption th a t clients influence counsellors, and a tte m p t to co ntro l and d ire c t the counselling relationshiD. is of special significance to th e counselling intervention. The prim ary ta rg e t fo r therapeu tic chanpe is the clien ts' behaviour in social in teractio n , especially th e ir interpersonal stra te g ie s. Strong (1978) has suggested th a t symptom s presented by clients in counselling should be viewed as
stra te g ie s of interpersonal control th a t lim it the responses of counsellors. From th a t p erspective, the client makes effo rts to gain the counsellor's accep tan ce of th e presen ted symptoms while the counsellor atte m p ts to influence the client to a cc ep t options of more psychologically healthy behaviour (Haley, 1963). The counsellor's goal is to sy stem atically disrupt the client's m aladaptive behaviour. If th e clien t succeeds in influencing the counsellor's acceptance of the sym ptom atic behaviour, th e counselling in teractio n lead? to m aintaining of the clien t behaviour instead of effectin g its change (Kiesler, 1981).
The need to understand sources of clients' influence over counsellors is
evident in both the em pirical (M eara, Shannon & Pepinsky, 1979; P atto n, Fuhriman & Bieber, 1977; T racey 6c Ray, 1984) and th eo retical lite ra tu re (Haley, 1963; W atzlaw ick e t al., 1967). Since the counselling relationship is considered to be a p red icto r of th e rap eu tic success (Orlinsky & Howard, 1978). the research has to be concerned not only w ith clien ts' impressions of counsellors (Corrigan e t al., 1980) but also w ith counsellors' experience of clients (Friedlander 6c Schw artz, 1985).
R ecen t developm ent of th e o re tic al assumptions about im pression m anagem ent (Schlenker, 1980; Tedesehi, 1981) and self-p resen tatio n al stra te g ie s in
in terperso nal interactio ns (Jones 6c P ittm an , 1982; Strong 6c Claiborn, 1982), o ffer p o te n tial im plications for counselling (Friedlander 6c Schw artz, 1985; Strong 6c C laiborn, 1982) and provide a new perspective from which a clien t's behaviour in a counselling relationship might be perceived. The basic th e o re tic a l view of
im pression m anagem ent asserts th a t a person uses his or her behaviour s tra te g ic a lly to guide o 'h e rs to certain inferences about the person's
c h a ra c te ristic s and thus to influence th e way o th ers behave with referen ce to th it person.
The proponents of impression m anagem ent theory concur w ith the following "hard co re assumptions" (Tetlock Sc M anstead, 1985): (1) th a t im pression
m anagem ent represents i. p articu la r view of human n atu re (Sehlenker, 1980; Schneider, 1981; Tedeschi, 1981; Wrightsman, 1971); and (2) th a t people are highly sensitive to the social significance of th e ir conduct and are m otivated to c re a te a desired impression on others in interpersonal encounters (Sehlenker, 1980, 1985; Sehlenker & Leary, 1985; Tedeschi, 1981). Sehlenker (1980) considers im pression m anagem ent to "play a key role in hew we develop, and m aintain p a rtic u la r id en tities in life" (p. 6). (3) S trateg ic im pression m anagem ent can be seen as a produet of highly overlearned habits, or scripts, the original functions of which people have long fo rg o tten (Jones & P ittm an, 1982; Sehlenker, 1980). T h erefo re, people believe in th e identities th a t they p ro ject to oth ers (B aum eister, 1982). (4) Impression m anagem ent "is a ce n tra l p a rt of th e very natu re o f social in teractio n , [and] it is inconceivable to discuss interpersonal relations w ithout employing th e concept" (Sehlenker, 1980, p. 7). (5) People striv e to c re a te favourable
im pressions on others, believing they will enhance th e ir ability to influence oth ers tow ard m eeting th e ir needs. Essentially, th e ir needs a re to control social
in teractio n s (Tedeschi Sc Lindskold, 1976). Thus, impression m anagem ent re fe rs to "any beh aviour by a person th a t has the purpose of controlling or m anipulating th e a ttrib u tio n s and im pressions form ed of th a t person by others" (Tedeschi Sc Riess, 1981b, p. 3).
Theorists posit th a t a v ariety of impression m anagem ent s tra te g ie s are utilized in interpersonal interactio ns. One basic distinction is betw een defensive and assertiv e impression m anagem ent (Arkin, 1981; Tedeschi Sc Riess, 1981b). This distinction re la te s specific impression m anagem ent stra te g ie s to d iffe re n t
types of social situations. When a person perceives th e social situation as
"id en tity -th reaten in g " or as a predicam ent, he/she a tte m p ts to use an assertive or defensive m anagem ent stra te g y in order to p ro tec t an established social im age, to avoid blam e or social disapproval (Sehlenke?, 1980; Tedeschi & Reiss, 1981a). One means of avoiding blam e or social disapproval involves using rem edial ta c tic s, or facew ork (Goffm an, 195S), th a t is, minimizing one’s responsibility for aetion (i.e., offering excuses) o r reducing the perceived negative quality of th e event (i.e., providing ju stification s).
In identity-enhancing situations, on th e other hand, a person tak es the opportunity to c re a te a favourable im pression on oth ers, th a t is, to gain cred it, social approval, or power (Tedeschi & Riess, 1981b). To do so, a person may engage e ith e r in en titlem en ts (Sehlenker, 1980) which maximize h is/her personal responsibility for an event, or enhancem ent, which augm ents the a ttractiv en ess or m erit of his or her action (Tedeschi & Riess, 1981b).
Counselling may be perceived by some clients as a predicam ent (Friedlander & Schw artz, 1985). R esearch indicates th a t an im portant fa c to r in th e decision to seek professional psychological aid !s anticip ated negative evaluation and stigm a (Wills, 1978; Sibicky <5c Dovidio, 1986). C lients who are affe c te d by stereotyping and stig m atizatio n may be prone to using a v ariety of self-p ro te ctiv e stra te g ie s in order to avoid w hat they perceive as negative evaluation by the counsellor.
Since, in th e counselling in teractio n clients are in a one-down position (Haley, 1963), th e y would likely try and seek the counsellor's approval and resp ect and, consequently, social power. Therefore, in counselling, impression m anagem ent has to do w ith one's self-p resen tatio n , and s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n m anipulates the im pression of the ta rg e t person. Not all c lie n t behaviour is stra te g ic ; some
counselling contex ts may e lic it impression-managing behaviours (Friedlander & Schw artz, 1985).
Since counselling is conceptualized as a m utually reinforcing influence betw een client and counsellor (Strong & Claiborn, 1982), th e investigation of th e client’s strateg ic self-p resen tation in counselling in teractio n is of param ount im portance to th e counselling relationship and th e counselling process in g eneral. It seem s to be c ritic a l for counsellors to recognize and d iffe re n tia te th e s tra te g ic nature of clients' self-p resen tatio n from symptoms of m aladaptive behaviours. An aw areness of self-presen tation ai strateg ies may enhance th e diagnosis and th e tre a tm e n t of m aladaptive interpersonal behaviour th a t is ro o ted in habitual stra te g ic self-p resentation . For exam ple, a clien t's habitual use of s tra te g ic supplication may earn her/him the brand of "wimp" and c re a te d ifficu lties w ith relationships. The counsellor's role in developing th e client's aw areness of this strateg y may be c ritic a l to th e tre a tm e n t of her/his interpersonal difficu lties.
Sehlenker (1980) divides self-presentational stra te g ie s into verbal and nonverbal. On th e other hand, Schneider's (1981) classification of
self-p resen tatio n al stra te g ie s consists of four classes: (1) verbal
self-presentation; (2) nonverbal and expressive behaviours; (3) a rtifa c tu a l displays; (4) purposive behaviours. The exploration of verbal self-p resen tatio n seem s to be the m ost relev ant to counselling, because spoken language is essential in the developm ent of a th e ra p eu tic relationship and intervention (Tracey & Ray, 1984). Also, verbal self-p resen tatio ns are not necessarily obvious in any conversation, bu t often very subtle (Sehlenker, 1980), em bedded in th e counselling discourse and, th e re fo re, might be unnoticed or taken fo r g ranted even by experienced
The lite ra tu re converges on th e omnipresence of th e phenomenon in social life (Jones & P ittm an , 1982). "Self-presentation is pervasive, fundam ental, and an im po rtan t p a rt of modern life, and no aspect or view of the self can rem ain u n a ffe c te d by self-p resen tatio n " (Baum eister, 1986, p. 241). And y et, in sp ite of volum es of relev an t lite ra tu re and research, little is known of exaetly how the phenomenon is produced and accom plished in ordinary or institutionalized discourse.
1.3 The purpose o f the study
The intention of this d issertatio n is to exam ine and describe, through th e analysis of n atu rally occurring discourse, s tra te g ic self-presentation s th a t clier, .s use in counselling. The prim ary concern of this study is with how strateg ic self-p resen tatio n is done by th e manner in which th e clien t and counsellor talk to eac h o th er. The em phasis of th e study is on conversational practices, language fe a tu re s, and organizational procedures (Garfinkel, 1967; Atkinson & H eritage, 1984; P om erantz 6c Atkinson, 1984), in o th e r words, on "techniques" (Levinson, 1983, p. 295) and "m ethods" u tilized by clien ts in th e counselling discourse when th e y are engaged in "doing" self-p resen tatio n s stra te g ic a lly (Craig & Tracy, 1983). Because of th e im portance of s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n to understanding the recip ro cal influence betw een counsellor and client, and to learning about the counselling process from the perspective of im pression m anagem ent, the spoken language employed in in teractio n producing stra te g ic self-p resen tatio n is a ce n tra l asp e c t from which th e resu lts of this study will be viewed.
The focus of this research study is on the process of the counselling interview , within which clien ts' present them selves to th e counsellor, not on its outcom e. Unlike trad ition al process research, however, this study is not concerned with the im pact or e ffe c t c theoretically specified variables upon th e process. R ather, the goal of this study is to prov .ue an acc u rate ar-d detailed description of the phenom ena, th a t is, how clients actually present them selves stra te g ic a lly through the sequential, in teractiv e talk th a t makes up the social occasion of the
counselling interview .
The basic assumption underlying th e purpose of this study is th a t a d ire c t and d etailed observation of real d ata, and a description of w hat clien ts a re in f a c t saying and doing (Mahrer, 1988) when they present them selves stra te g ic a lly , will provide valuable insights into the stru c tu re and organization of th ese phenom ena in th e counselling in teractio n . Also, it will enhance the understanding of the in tricacies of the counselling process from an im pression m anagem ent perspective.
1.4 Definitions
The following definitions of key concepts and te rm s used in this study are provided in the o u tset of th e study as background inform ation and fo r th e "feel" of the present subject m a tter (Goodwin, 1981).
1.4.1 Impression management
Impression m anagem ent refers to a social psychological p erspective which em phasizes the prem ise th a t, whenever individuals engage in in teractio n w ith one
another, they will a tte m p t to control the image the others form of them . It is a process by which individuals a tte m p t to achieve or m anipulate the attrib u tio n s and im pressions th a t o thers form of them (Tedeschi, 1981; Leary <5c KowalsRi, 1990), and it is considered to be an integral p art of social life. It is evaluated in term s of its p rag m atic payoffs. Sehlenker (1980) puts it this way: "The term im pression m anagem ent evokes images of stra te g y and ta c tic s, of people jockeying in the social world, trying to control how they appear in order to accom plish p articu lar objectives" (p. 10). Because th e impressions people make on others have an im plication for how oth ers perceive, evaluate and tr e a t them , people behave in ways th a t will c re a te a certain impression on others.
1.4.2 Self-presentation
Most authors and research ers have used the two concepts impression
m anagem ent and self-presentation interchangeably (Friedlander & Schw artz, 1985; H arre & Lamb, 1986; Tedeschi, 1981; Tedeschi & Riess, 1981). Some, however, have distinguished betw een them . For exam ple, Arkin, Appleman and Burger (1980) asse rte d th a t the term self-presentation re fe rs to the manner in which individuals "plan, adopt, and carry out stra te g ie s fo r managing the im pressions they m ake on others" (p. 23). An all-encom passing view of self-p resen tatio n has been o ffe re d by Arkin and Baum gardner (1986), who say th a t th e term
"self-p resen tatio n re fe rs to the process of establishing an id en tity through the ap pearance one p resen ts to others. People are constantly engaged in presenting an ap pearance, e ith e r intentionally or unintentionally, honestly or d eceitfully , to a ctu al or im agined others; consequently, virtually all behaviour could be viewed as p resentational" (p. 75). Sehlenker (1980) sim plifies th e definition of im pression m anagem ent as a "conscious or unconscious a tte m p t to control im ages th a t are
projected in real or imagined social in teractio n . When these im ages are self-relev an t, the beheviour is term ed self-p resen tatio n" (p. 6). For Schneider (1981), im pression m anagement is "an a tte m p t by one person (actor) to a f f e c t th e perception of her or him by another person (target)", and he defines
self-presentation as "a manipulation of inform ation about the self by an a c to r" (p. 25). S elf-presentational theorists point out th a t people are best thought of not as intuitive scientists but as intuitive politicians (Arkin e t al., 1980; Bradley, 1978; Scott and Lyman, 1968; Tedeschi e t al., 1971). Arkin and Baum gardner (1986) argue th a t self-p resen tation is an activ e form of social influence. And finally, Goff man, who coined th e term "self-presentation," has defined it in th e following manner:
The human tendency to use signs and symbols means th a t evidence of social w orth and of m utual evaluations will be conveyed by very minor things, and these things will be w itnessed, as will th e fa c t th a t they have been w itnessed. An unguarded glance, a m om entary change in ton e of voice, an ecological position taken or not taken, can drench a ta lk with judgem ental significance. T herefore, ju st as th e re is no occasion o f talk in which im proper impressions could not intentionally or unintentionally arise, so th e re is no occasion of talk so triv ial as not to require each p articip an t to show serious concern with the way in which he handles him self and th e others present" (Goffman, 1959, p. 3).
1.4.3 Strategic self-presentation
The term "strateg ic self-presen tatio n" has been introduced to th e lite ra tu re by Jones and P ittm an (1982) and defined by them as "those fe a tu re s of behaviour a ffe c te d by pow er augm entation m otives designed to e lic it or shape o th ers'
a ttrib u tio n s of th e acto r's dispositions" (p. 233). In the present study, however, s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n refers to conversational activ ities, within the socially organized discourse of counselling, through which clients verbally convey a p a rtic u la r image of them selves to counsellors, whereby eliciting p articu lar
responses. This notion of stra te g ic self-p resen tation re fle c ts Schlenker's assertion, th a t "any self-relev an t image can be expected to produce a p articu lar s e t of consequences fo r the individual" (1980, p. 9ft).
In th e the co n tex t of this study, clients' stra te g ic self-presentatio n is made recognizable to oth ers mainly through clients' and counsellors' use of those co n v ersatio n al/in teractio n al p ractices, including subtle aspects of style and co n ten ts of o v ert com m unication, th a t explicitly or im plicitly indicate the meaning of a clien t's previous u tteran ces. S trateg ic self-p resen tation is viewed here n o t as re fle c tiv e of cognitive s ta te s of th e clien t but simply as a
goal-orien ted conversational phenomenon th a t occurs in the counselling in teractio n . As such, th e conversational activ ity (th at is, strateg ic
self-p resen tatio n ) has a double ch ara cter: on the one hand it is goal-oriented and on th e othe.* it is dependent on th e verbal in teractio n th a t takes place betw een th e clien t and the counsellor (Carlson, 1985; H arper, 1985). Because clien ts' stra te g ic self-p resen tatio n is viewed here from the perspective of conversational
achievem ent (Schegloff, 1984a), the emphasis of th e analysis is on m anagem ent of conversation, on w hat was lite ra lly said, and how it was said, ra th e r than what might have been intended.
The te rm "strateg y " re fe rs here to th e em ploym ent of subtle manipulations of conversational resources th a t make th e action of the phenomenon achievable (Crow, 1989). A g re a t range of evidence of th e routine use of stra te g ie s in
everyday conversation can be found in various conversational analytic studies (Davidson, 1984; Drew, 1984; H eritage, 1985; Levinson, 1983; P om erantz, 1980).
1.4.4 Self-presentation and self-disclosure
Two concepts, self-disclosure and self-p resen tation , a ie som etim es tre a te d interchangeably in the lite ra tu re (Johnson, 1981; Snyder <5c Swann, 1976; Wylie, 1974). While both self-disclosure and self-p resentation are considered to be fairly routine occurrences in human social behaviour, their functions are d iffe re n t. Cozby (1973) conceptualizes self-disclosure as "any inform ation about him self which Person A com m unicates to Person B" A more rigorous definition is o ffered by D erlega and G rzelak (1979): "Self-disclosure includes any inform ation exchange th a t re fe rs to th e self, including personal s ta te s , dispositions, events in the p ast, and plans for th e fu tu re" (p. 152). J . Johnson (1981) points o ut th a t "when people talk about them selves — w hether in a laboratory experim ent, in psychotherapy, or in everyday life - - th eir verbal rep o rts can be conceptualized as e ith e r simple factu al com m unication about the self (i.e., self-disclosure) or as ways to in stru c t others about how th ey are to be regarded (i.e., celf-presentation)" (p. 761). For exam ple, a sta te m e n t such as "I trav eled in Europe fo r a year" could be o ffered as fa c tu a l inform ation about th e self (i.e., how and where one spent a year). From a self-p resen tatio n al viewpoint, the sam e s ta te m e n t is not m erely a description of one's behaviour but a verbal activ ity of instructing others about how one is to be regarded ~ in this case perhaps as a w ell-traveled, worldly individual. Johnson's (1981) claim th a t self-disclosure is a description of how one really is converges with Jourard's (1971) assertion th a t pecple give "truthful" inform ation about th e self.
However, th e lite ra tu re indicates th a t self-disclosure som etim es does more than provide inform ation about a discloser (Chelune, 1979; Cozby, 1973;
Rosenberg, 1979; Taylor, 1979). It can be an instrum ent of probing others for inform ation, obeying a social norm, or eliciting social and em otional support. D erlega and G rzelak (1979) support th e claim th a t self-disclosure can serve d iffe re n t functions in interpersonal relationship, such as self-olarifieatio n, social validation, relationship developm ent, and social control. They alco suggest th a t disclosure of personal inform ation can be used to control outcom es of social relationships. People can selectiv ely use inform ation about them selves to gain oth e rs' social approval or to make o th ers feel good about them selves.
F urth erm ore, self-disclosure may be used as a self-p resentation al stra te g y , i.e., in g ratiatio n (Jones & Wortman, 1973; Schneider & Eustis, 1972). In gratiators presum ably base th e ir self-disclosure on the prem ise th a t intim acy and a ttra c tio n are re la te d (Jourard, 1959).
1.4.5 Discourse
A minimal definition of discourse includes two featu res: language above the s en ten c e level and situ a te d language in use (Brown le Yule, 1983; Stubbs, 1983; M cCarthy, 1991; Schiffrin, 1987; Widdowson, 1971). Tannen (1989) explicates this definition by saying: "Discourse - - language beyond the sentence — is simply language — as it occurs, in any co n tex t (including the co n tex t of linguistic analysis), in any form (including tw o made-up sentences in sequence, a tape reco rd ed conversation, m eeting, or interview , a novel or piay)" (p. 6). In the p resen t study, th e term discourse re fe rs to language used by the clien t and counsellor within th e socially stru ctu re d event of counselling, and includes rou tin ized form s of language and o th e r constraints (Friedlander, 1984).
1.4.6 Discourse analysis
The term discourse analysis basically means th e study of language in use (Brown & Yule, 1983; Tannen, 1989) and "has come to be used w ith a wide range of meanings which cover a wide range of activ ities" (Brown <5c Yule, 1983, p. viii). As a subdiscipline of linguistics, discourse analysis rep resen ts a very diverse field of study th a t em braces several d ifferen t disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, psychology, rh eto ric, philology, speech com m unication, and philosophy. However, discourse analysis does not re fe r to a p articu lar m ethod of analysis, th e o re tic a l perspective or m ethodological fram ew ork. Discourse analysis simply describes th e object of study, th a t is, language beyond th e sentence.
1.4.7 Conversation
O rdinary conversation is defined as a "fam iliar predom inant kind of talk in which tw o or more p articip an ts freely a lte rn a te in speaking, which generally occurs outside specific institutionalized settin g s like law courts, classroom and the like" (Levinson, 1983, p. 284). Goffman (1976) suggests th a t th e te rm can re fe r to casual ta lk in everyday setting s and, altern ativ ely , th e te rm can be "used in a loose way as an equivalent of talk or spoken interactio n" (p. 36).
1.4.8 Conversational analysis
The term "conversational analysis" re fe rs exclusively to work in th e paradigm pioneered by ethnom ethodologists Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974). It re fe rs to a p articu la r com bination of th e o re tic al concepts and methods em ployed in studying a p articu la r kind of d ata (see R esearch approach, Section 1.6).
1.4.9 Utterance
The term "u tte ran ce" refers to the stream of speech actually produced by a speaker in conversation, th a t is, not only sounds which could be recognized as elem ents of sentences, but also phenomena such as inbreaths, laughter, crying, pauses and uh's (Goodwin, 1981; Speier, 1972).
1.5 Research questions
The following research questions are addressed by this study:
1. How are clien ts' s tra te g ic self-p resentation s accom plished, th a t is, produced and made observable to the counsellor and client.
2. What kind of s tra te g ic self-presentations are used by clien ts in counselling discourse?
3. What are th e con texts in which clients use stra te g ic self-presentatio ns? 4. What are th e p a tte rn s of the clients' stra te g ic self-presentations?
1.6 Research approach
This study was carried out using mainly th e perspectives of an
ethnom ethodology and conversational analysis approach (Garfinkel, 1967;
H eritag e, 1984a; P om erantz, 1984; Sacks, Schegloff 6c Jefferson , 1974; Schegloff Sc. Sacks, 1973; Turner, 1972); drawn minimally from the perspective of analytic induction (Jackson, 1986; K atz, 1983) and discovery-oriented research (E lliott, 1984; M ahrer, 1988). The epistem ological basis, conceptual and m ethodological principles on which the study was based are briefly review ed.
The choice of the research methodology for this study is based on several im portant considerations. The lite ra tu re indicates th a t a m ajority of th e social psychological studies, including research on im pression m anagem ent and
self-presentatio n have been carried out in th e co n tex t of lab o rato ries, through th e application of positivist em pirical methodologies usin^ a deductive
experim entation approach. Applying reduetive-positivist science m ethods of inquiry to study human interactio n in social co ntex ts results in oversim plification, emission of con tex t, and loss of meaning (Habermas, 1970). F urtherm ore, sub jects particip ating in th e experim ents are aware of th eir close surveillance by th e research er. The research er controls the settin g , stag es most of th e actio n, s ta te s the rules th a t will apply to th e i ituation, and lim its the range of responses the subjects can make. There is a strong indication th a t subjects in th ese situ ation s are prim arily concerned w ith displaying an identity as a norm al, average, health y, intelligent, cooperative and moral person (Rosenberg, 1965), and engage in
self-p resen tatio n al stra te g ie s. Tedeschi & Riess (1981b) suggest th a t many research paradigm s in exploring th e issues re la te d to impression m anagem ent can be viewed as producing predicam ents for subjects. Correspondingly, the responses of subjects may be viewed as impression-managing explanations designed to resolve a predicam ent (Tedeschi & Riess, 1981a). Page (1981) p resents a strong argum ent against em pirical, laboratory-oriented research on im pression
m anagem ent when he says "humans are im pression-m anaging beings" (p. 57), th erefo re, even in laboratory settings they are "concerned about ad equ ately perform ing social roles and about impressions made upon o th e rs.... Like th e experim enter, the subjects a re acto rs who have th e ir own definitions of th e
experim ental situation and who ascribe meaning and purpose to them selves and the experim en ter during th e process of interaction with him in the laboratory" (p. 79). The common them e running through impression m anagem ent explanations is th a t experim ental manipulations used in positivistic paradigms influence behaviour by a ffe c tin g subjects' perceptions of the soeial identity im plications of response options (Tedeschi, 1981b). Thus, the laboratory studies on stra te g ic
self-p resen tatio n s may be an unlikely place to expect people to a c t naturally (Page, 1981).
The lite ra tu re on counselling research indicates th a t the dominance of
q u an titativ e research methods has been challenged in rece n t years (E lliott, 1983a, 1983b, 1985; M ahrer, 1988; Rice 6c Greenberg, 1984). The critic s agree th a t research in counselling has yielded some im portant findings (G reenberg, 1986; Orlinsky 6c Howard, 1978; P atto n , 1984) but has not led to th e explanations of process and the understanding needed to enhance the effectiv en ess of th erap eu tic p ra c tic e .
In th e past decade, a number of counselling process research ers have used counselling particip an ts' ta lk as th eir resource fo r analyzing events in counselling (Friedlanc'ler 6c Phillips, 1984; H eatherington, 1988; Hill, Helms, Spiegel 6c
Tichenor., 1988). In their studies, however, the observation of th e counselling event has been supplem ented w ith the use of coding schem es which serve as a technique for th e in terp reta tio n of the events in counselling. The research stra te g ie s th a t have employed th e coding of d ata are varied. The predom inant s tra te g y of d ata collection and analysis via coding system s consists of the following procedure. Counsellor and clien t u tteran ces are e x tra c te d from the ongoing; discourse and coded according to externally established rules. Then the
resu lts of the coding are converted into frequencies, which are calcu lated and turned into findings. The main consequence of this process is th a t the u tte ra n c e s are stripped of th e ir contextual relevance. Without th e co ntextual grounding of the events in counselling conversation, th ere is no indication of w hat meaning th e events have for th e p articip an ts. Without consideration for th e p articip an ts' meaning of the events, the coding system does not provide adequate description of th e counselling process.
The existing coding system s have one featu re in common, th a t is, they
describe th e counselling events from the researcher's ra th e r then th e p articip a n t's point of view (P atton, 1984), thus, the studies produce a lim ited p o rtray al of w hat is going on in th e process of counselling. The ex ternally devised schem e to study events in counselling focuses mainly on the im portance of elem ents in th e schem e and disregards how the events are produced and in terp reted by th e p a rtic ip a n ts in counselling them selves.
In th e p resent study, selection of th e research approach is based on the
apparent need to use the actu al d ata to "fish out" n atu ral o ccurrences of s tra te g ic self-p resen tatio n s, and tr e a t these mundane events, produced by th e clien t and counsellor, as serious candidates for observation and analysis. This is based on th e conviction th a t in order to make any research relevan t to p ra c tic e of counselling, firs t th e re must be a b e tte r understanding of th e im portant phenom ena produced by the counsellor and client in the course of th e ir talk in counselling.
1.6.2 Conceptual basis o f ethnomethodology and conversational analysis
Ethnom ethodology represents a sociological approach to research th a t is concerned with th e everyday, commonplace, or routine social a c tiv itie s and
in teractio n s, and methods of p ractical reasoning used in th e ir production
(G arfinkel, 1967; G arfinkel & Sacks, 1969). As Benson and Hughes (1983) explain, one of ethnomethodology's abiding in terests is the explication of the
ways in which members, through th e ir practices, produce the social stru c tu re of everyday activities, th e aim being to describe those p ractices and show how th ey work (p. 19).
The te rm ethnom ethodology stands fo r the study of "ethnic" (p articip ants' own) m ethods of production and in terp retatio n of social in teractio n (G arfinkel, 1967, 1974; Turner, 1972). The main te n e ts of ethnomethodology are as follows. (1) People a re not governed by rules but they are users of rules which they ad ap t and apply to d iffere n t settings (Taylor <5c Cam eron, 1987). That is, people
co n stan tly a tte m p t to understand every social situation and, based on this understanding, produce behaviour of th e ir own (P o tter & W etherell, 1987). (2) A ction and c o n tex t are m utually dependent -- they are reflexive, in th a t meaning and c o n te x t are produced by people in and through their in teractio n (Sharrock <5c Anderson, 1986). In o th e r words, reflexivity re fe rs to fe a tu re s of th e conversation which are not only about actions, events and situations, but which c o n stitu te a p a rt of those actions and situations. (3) Indexicality is an essential fe a tu re of all a c ts and u tte ra n c e s. Indexical expressions are those which depend fo r th e ir sense upon th e circum stances of th e ir production, of who said them , when, w here, in re la tio n to w hat, and so fo rth (Sharrock & Anderson, 1986). (4) Meaning is situ atio n ally and contextually em bedded.
The principal research focus of ethnom ethodology is to "seek to discover how m em bers co n stru ct, produce and in te rp re t, through the a ctu al ongoing a c tiv itie s, w hat th ey ta k e to be social fa c ts" (Psathas, 1980, p. 3). Pollner (1974) m aintains
as accom plishm ent." G enerally, however, ethnom ethodology seeks to understand the way in which people use th e ir common-sense reasoning and methods to make th e ir actions in terp retab le to them selves and each other.
Conversational analysis. Harvey Sacks and his colleagues Schegloff and Jefferson (Sacks & Schegloff, 1979; Sacks, Schegloff Jc Jefferso n , 1974, 1978; Schegloff, 1973) have been cred ited with grounding th e th e o re tic a l principles of ethnomethodology in the d ata itse lf, th a t is, in th e analysis of the m ost ubiquitous social activ ity — natural, everyday conversation. C onversational analysis
(henceforth CA) has been developed prim arily as a method used in investigating how intelligible interaction is organized and for w hat purposes (Taylor & Cam eron 1987). In general, conversational analysts are concerned w ith explicating and describing the procedures and expectations through which p articip a n ts produce and understand ordinary conversational conduct and in te rp re t the conduct of others (H eritage, 1984). A general focus of th e CA approach is on: (1)
organizational fe a tu re s of talk which are displayed and used in th e ac tu a l events of in teractio n ; (2) sequences of action; (3) th e way in which u tte ra n c e s accom plish p articu la r action by virtue of th e ir placem ent and p articip atio n w ithin sequences of action.
Based on th e findings from em pirical studies of ordinary conversation, Sacks e t al. (1974) assert th a t conversation is a highly organized a c tiv ity whose basic methods include turn-tak ing and adjacency pairs (see Schegloff & Sacks, 1973).
Turn-taking in conversation is a method by which p articip an ts in conversation manage who speaks when and who takes turns to ta lk , w ith one p a rtic ip a n t a t a
tim e occupying a turn, th en a next. Normally, one p articip an t speaks a t a tim e, and tran sitions from one speaker to another are achieved in an orderly fashion w ithout overlap. Preserving the principle of "one speaks a t a tim e," on com pletion of th e turn, the sequence of A-B-A-B is achieved across two p articip an ts. The tu rn -tak in g m ethod is controlled by a rule th a t Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferso n called a "local m anagem ent syst *m" (1974; 1978). This system controls the allo catio n of units from which the turns of talk are con structed . The units are d eterm ined by various fe a tu re s of linguistic surface stru c tu re , mainly, they are s y n tactic units (such as sentences, clauses, noun phrases and so on) identified as turn -u n its by means of prosodies, mainly intonation. Essentially, a speaker controls one of th e these turn-constructional units, and the end of such a unit co n stitu te s a point a t w hich the speakers may change. This is called a T ransition R elevance P lace (or TRP).
The adjacency pair is "a class of sequential units" (Schegloff, 1984b, p. 32) th a t rep resen ts local m anagem ent organization in conversation. A djacent pairs consist of two u tte ra n c e s produced by two d ifferen t speakers. The rules governing th e procedure fo r the jo in t production of adjacency pairs are th a t on a given speaker's production of th e firs t p air (for exam ple, a question), th e next speaker should provide a second p air p a rt (for exam ple, an answer) of th e sam e pair type as an "im m ediate next action ." By the orientation to each o th er's conform ity to these rules, speakers can m onitor each other's co m petent understanding of the sequence of talk .
Form ulation rep resen ts another stru c tu ra l featu re of conversation (H eritage & Watson, 1979). The role o f form ulation in conversation is "to claim the existen ce of a s tru c tu re which has been im plicit up to th a t point, and invoke th a t s tru c tu re
as a principle fo r organizing activity , e.g., clarificatio n, instruction" (Peyrot, 1982, p. 266). H eritage and Watson (1979) identify form ulation of gist and
form ulation of upshot. Form ulation of gist sum m arise the sense of some course of talk; form ulations of upshot sum m arize what a course of ta lk means, in a p ra c tic a l sense, and th e re fo re pr< suppose a form ulation of gist which has not actu ally been u tte re d . In short, form ulations provide a method by which p articip a n ts can understand w hat th ey have been saying by dem onstrating how they have heard what th e y have said. The reflex iv ity of the form ulation is evident when it is recognized th a t th e form ulation is an u tteran ce in a course o f talk upon which th e form ulation is heard to com m ent.
In general, th e goal of conversational analytic studies is to d em o n strate how, in and through talk , particip an ts of conversation sequence th e ir talk , because th e methods by which particip an ts accom plish th e sequence of th e ir ta lk a re also the methods they use to accomplish the specific work o f th a t p a rtic u la r conversation, for exam ple, self-presen tation .
H istorically, th e focus o f the ethnom ethodological and CA research has been on ordinary, mundane, everyday, tak en -fo r-g ran ted a c tiv itie s and conversation in teractio n . H owever, th e re is considerable evidence of th e application of conversational analytic techniques to institutional d a ta (Atkinson & Drew, 1979; McHoul, 1990; Drew, 1984; H eritage, 1984b) indicating th a t "institutio nal
in teractio n tends to involve two re la te d phenomena: (1) a selec tiv e red uctio n in the full range of conversational p ractices available fo r us? in mundane
in teraction ; and (2) a degree of con centration on, and sp ecialization of, p a rtic u la r procedures which have th e ir "home" or base environm ent in in ordinary ta lk .
1.6.3 Basic methodological principles
(1) "There is no fixed agenda intrinsic to conversational analysis, any o th er than th e re is fo r ethnom ethodology. R ather, conversational analysis presents a general approach to th e analysis of social action which can be applied to an ex trem ely varied array of topics and problems" (H eritage, 1984, p. 291).
(2) The f ir s t p rereq uisite for conducting th e research from an
ethnom ethodological-conversation analytic perspective is the use of naturally occurring d a ta (Hopper, Koch 6c Mandelbaum, 1986; Psathas, 1990; Hopper, 1989; Schenkein, 1978).
(3) For successful conversational analytic analysis, the transcription of th e raw d a ta is of th e utm ost im portant. The transcrip tion must display and preserve th e prosodic and in teractio n al qualities of th e raw d a ta as produced by the
speakers (Sacks, Schegloff 6c Jefferso n, 1974; Schegloff, 1984b; Schenkein, 1978). The assum ption is th a t, people do not m erely "laugh" or "pause" or "u tter" but do things w ith them .
(4) The use of recording technology is regarded as an absolute necessity (P sathas, 1990). Recordings evoke the confidence th a t they provide a com plete reco rd of conversation.
(5) Since th e focus of an ethnom ethodological/eonversational analytical approach is basically on discovering the stru ctu re , organization and "methods" used in th e accom plishm ent of a p articu la r in teractio n , independently of the p a rtic ip a n ts' p a rtic u la r ch a ra c te ristic s and psychological sta te s (Garfinkel 6c Sacks, 1969), th e re is no need for iden tification of th e participants. The
in teraction al phenomena being described and analyzed are not being analyzed in term s of their connection to the p articu la rities of the particip an ts, but ra th e r in term s of the organizational or stru c tu ra l fe a tu re s of th e in teractio n al phenomenon itself.
(6) Soeial action and in teractio n possess identifiable stru c tu ra l and
organizational fe a tu re s (H eritage, 1984a) which are independent of a speaker's psychological or o th e r ch ara cteristics, e.g., social class, gender, e tc . The speakers, however, w hether consciously or unconsciously, bring into th e
in teractio n the com m unicative knowledge (com petence) which influence speakers' conduct and allows them to in terp ret the conduct of others.
(7) In the focus on sequential analysis, u tteran ces are in th e firs t instance con textually understood by referen ce to th e ir placem ent and p articip a tio n w ithin sequences of actions (Schegloff, 1984b). Thus, th e prim ary unit of analysis is a sequence and turns-w ithin-sequence ra th e r than isolated u tteran ces.
(8) Speakers' contributions to sequentially constru cted conversation are understood only by referen ce to the co ntext.
(9) Meaning is discovered in the way u tteran ces are used. Meaning is not an end in itse lf, but a means to understanding the workings of conversation as a system o f interaction . The meaning of th e u tte ra n c e is the hearing given to it by p articip an ts, including th e speaker. It is this m eaning-as-participant hearing th a t is consequential in conversational in teractio n , since each p articip a n t m ust a c t on his or h e r own in terp reta tio n of what has been said. P articip an t re a c tio n is a crucial index of meaning. The p articip an t's hearing is to be found in his or her verbal reac tio n (Bilmes, 1985).
(10) The precondition of the d a ta analysis is th a t "there always be alte rn a tiv e ways of describing the d ata" (Atkinson & Drew, 1979, p. 24). Thus, the research e r does not have to claim th a t some p articu lar description is definite or exhaustive. The description and explication are not constructions of th e research e r but are "oriented to" by particip an ts of talk. That means th a t they are presented from the p articip a n ts' perspectives.
(11) There are some fundam ental steps to be considered in conducting the analysis: (a) a tte m p t to lo c a te some p articu la r conversational organization, iso late its sy stem atic fe a tu re s by dem onstrating p articip an ts' o rientation to it; (b) ask w hat problem s th e organization solves, and what problems are thus raised by this organization; (c) finally, ask what im plications it has for the solutions to fu rth e r problem s.
(12) The validity of any and all explications and descriptions are u ltim ately dependent upon th e d ata (as they are understood only by referen ce to the co n tex t). T herefore, the raw d ata m ust be included in th e rep o rt of th e study (G oetz 3c LeC om pte, 1984).
(13) G arfinkel's (1967) point of view is is th a t "understanding language is not, in th e f ir s t instance, a m a tte r of understanding sentences but of understanding actio ns - - u tteran ces — which are constructively in terp rete d in rela tio n to th e ir co n tex ts. This involves viewing an u tte ra n c e against a background of who said it, w here and when, w hat was being accom plished by saying it and in th e light of w hat possible considerations and in virtue of w hat m otives it was said" (H eritage,
(14) Although research in ethnomethodology and conversational analysis has diversified over th e years (Atkinson A H eritage, 1984; Goodwin, 1981; P sathas, 1979; Schenkein, 1978; Sudnow, 1972), th e re are a . le ast th re e c e n tra l points on which th e re is a strong consensus among researchers. F irst, th e main focus o f the analysis should be on how p articipants them selves produce and in te rp re t each others' actions. Second, th e research ers must tr e a t even th e most mundane events as worthy of serious analytic a tte n tio n . Third, the analysis should be based on the naturally occurring data.
(15) The direction of any p articu la r analysis cannot be an ticip ated , prejudged or planned in advance.
1.6.4 Strengths o f the study
(1) This study rep resen ts a unique contribution to an understanding of clien ts' self-p resentatio nal behaviour in th e process of counselling.
(2) The study o ffers an a ltern ativ e method of inquiry (Hoshmand, 1989;
P atto n, 1989), and a "break away" from th e trad itio n of a p o sitiv istic ex perim en tal research orien tation in counselling, where th e coding schem e, as an analytic device of the research er, has been a predom inant method of d a ta co llection used to study th e counselling process.
(3) The focus of this study is on the p articip an ts' talk as the resource fo r making an accu rate observation and description of the even ts in counselling in th e ir own right, thus enhancing an understanding of the counselling process ra th e r than its outcom e.
(4) The re a l situation in which the d ata was recorded is a situation th a t would have o ccurred w hether or not this research p ro ject had been undertaken. The research settin g was n eith er co nstructed nor contrived for th e the purpose of obtaining th e d ata, and th e p articip an ts (clients and counsellors) were naturally and necessarily present.
(5) The d a ta co llected in the natu ral settin g a re n either idealized nor constrained by a specific research design or by referen ce to some p articu lar theory or hypothesis. The d ata collection was not in any way influenced by the presence of th e research e r. N aturally occurring counselling interactio n presents an im m ense range of circum stances - - effectiv ely am ounting to a "natural lab oratory." The study breaks w ith th e counselling research trad itio n of using invented exam ples in a labo ratory settin g (Adair, 1973; Rosenberg, 1965).
(6) The availability of tape-reco rd ed d ata enables rep ea ted and detailed exam ination o f th e instances of clien ts' s tra te g ic self-presen tation s within counselling interview s, and thus g reatly enhances th e range of precision of the observations th a t can be made. The use of such d a ta has th e additional advantage of providing read ers of research rep o rt with d irect access to th e d a ta about which an aly tic claim s are being made, thereby making them available for public scrutiny in a w ay th a t fu rth e r minimizes th e influence of the research er's preconceptions and an aly tic al bias.
(7) The choice of research method, ethnom ethodology and conversational analysis, which is d a ta driven, allows a focus on the phenomenon which is in various ways evidenced in the d ata of interaction. The research method provides a stro n g bias against a priori speculation about th e speakers' m otives and in favour
of a detailed exam ination of in teractan ts' a ctu al action*. Thus, the em pirical conduct of speakers is tre a te d as th e ce n tra l resource out of which analysis is developed, th a t is, the main focus is on how particip an ts them selves produce and in terp ret each other's action (H eritage, 1984a).
(8) The dominance of quan titative research methods in counselling has been challenged in re c e n t years (Elliott, 1983a, 1983b, 1985; M ahrer, 1988; Rice & G reenberg, 1984) and researchers have suggested th a t more a tte n tio n should be given to identifying and explaining w hat is happening in the process of counselling (Greenberg, 1986; Russell Sc Trull, 1986). This study focuses on discovering socially organized featu res of talk in th e counselling co n tex t, w ith a m ajor emphasis on sequential analysis of language and action, thus producing findings th a t a re p ertin en t to counselling p ractice.
(9) This research study is based on d a ta e x tra c te d from 20 d iffere n t
counselling interview s, providing a fairly wide range of counselling co n tex ts and situations in which clien ts' stra te g ic self-p resen tatio n occurs.
(10) The d a ta w ere tape-reco rded by th e counsellors, r a th e r than th e research er, a f te r receiving w ritten consent from the clients.
1.6.5 Limitations o f the study
(1) The conditions under which th e d ata were co llected cannot be considered ideal. A m ajority of th e co llected tap e recordings are of very poor tech n ical
quality, making transcribing d ifficult a t some points and hindering the analysis of spoken discourse.
