Decision-making bias in psychotherapy: Effects of hypothesis source and accountability

Hypothesis-testing strategies used by 72 psychology doctoral students were assessed after these therapists viewed and responded to a videotaped client-therapist interaction. The results of the present study indicate that the therapists who were provided with a plausible hypothesis or who were allowed to develop their own hypothesis were more likely to rely on confirmatory hypothesis-testing strategies than were therapists provided with a less plausible hypothesis about the client. In addition, it was found that the type of decision-making strategy used by the therapists was not influenced by whether they were held highly accountable for their responses or minimally accountable for their responses.