The role of learning style in choosing one’s therapeutic orientation
Abstract
The motives of the beginning psychotherapist for choosing his or her orientation are an underresearched issue in psychotherapy training. This study focuses on the role of personality-based factors, specifically the epistemological preferences of the therapist that Kolb (1984) has termed "learning style" (LS). The aim of the present study was to explore possible associations between psychology students' developing LSs and their choice of psychotherapeutic orientation (psychodynamic [PDT] vs. cognitive-behavioural [CBT]). Students in a psychologist's program (N=175) took the Learning Style Inventory in their third semester and, before their formal choice, in their seventh semester. Besides a common trend toward radicalization or purification of their LS, the average PDT student tended to stick to the "feel and watch" style from the third semester to the seventh, whereas the CBT student tended to move toward "think and do." A cluster analysis revealed that the average movement among the CBT students was the result of the forces in two different subgroups, one toward "think" (and, more weakly, "watch"), the other toward "do" (and, more weakly, "feel").
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Research suggests that the decision to choose one's therapeutic orientation is based on factors such as personality, individual learning styles, and value preferences.
“Research suggests that the decision to choose one’s therapeutic orientation is based, among others, on such factors as personality (72), individual learning styles (73), and value preferences (74).”
From Waiting for a digital therapist: three challenges on the path to psychotherapy delivered by artificial intelligence (2023) · cites this paper as [73]
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- Authors
- Heffler, B., & Sandell, R.
- Affiliations
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Linköping University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Heffler, Bo
- ORCID
- Sandell, Rolf
- Venue
- Psychotherapy Research
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2009-05
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 283-292
- ISSN
- 1050-3307 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-4381
- OpenAlex
- W2043045948
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.52
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychotherapy Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
- Keywords
- learning styles, psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, therapist training, psychology students, Kolb learning styles, Learning Style Inventory
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Choice Behavior, Female, Humans, Learning, Male, Middle Aged, Psychotherapy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
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