A STUDY OF ROGERS' 'REFLECTION' HYPOTHESIS.

The article presents a discussion on the reflection hypothesis, proposed by psychologist Carl Rogers. Rogers defined reflection as a type of response to the client in which the counselor tries to understand from the client's point of view and to communicate that understanding. To test this hypothesis, an investigation was made on the responses made by clinically trained and untrained people to hypothetical counseling situations via pencil-and-paper methods. Findings suggest that clinical skills have been shown to be considerably more than a simple extension of knowledge of interpersonal relations possessed by any reasonably intelligent and emotionally mature person. This appears to be the case at least insofar as one testable notion about therapy, namely, reflection, is concerned.