Correlates of changes in personal construing of members of two psychotherapy groups: changes in affective expression.

Changes in verbal affective expression within sessions of two psychotherapy groups run along group-analytic lines were measured using the Process Affective Scoring System developed by Gibbard & Hartman (1973). Tape recordings of group sessions were rated by trained undergraduate students for presence or absence of verbal affect. Relationships between these changes and changes in personal construing were sought. Expression of hostility and affection were found to be good predictors of a successful outcome of therapy. Factors which might account for the unexplained variance of changes in outcome variables are put forward.