Vocal synchrony in psychotherapy.
Abstract
Matching of nonverbal behaviors in conversation, known as synchrony, is sometimes shown to predict the rapport between conversational partners. The aim of this study was to examine whether synchrony in vocal pitch between psychotherapists and clients is similarly associated with rapport. Recordings of psychotherapy sessions were analyzed to extract the synchrony in pitch of therapist and client speech, and these synchrony measures were then related to measures of the therapy relationship and treatment outcome. Results indicated that pitch synchrony did occur in the sessions but higher levels of synchrony were related to poorer therapeutic relationships and greater distress. These findings suggest that the vocal pitch of therapists and their clients may be of importance in understanding the psychotherapy interaction.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Vocal pitch synchrony was negatively associated with therapist empathy and therapeutic outcomes.
“However, the other study found that vocal pitch synchrony was negatively associated with therapist empathy and therapeutic outcomes (Reich et al., 2014).”
From Synchrony in Psychotherapy: A Review and an Integrative Framework for the Therapeutic Alliance (2016) · cites this paper as Reich et al., 2014
Cites
Factor structure of the working alliance inventory
Tracey, T. J., & Kokotovic, A. M. (1989) · Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/1040-3590.1.3.207 · Cited by 1,501 · see citing works
It's All in the Timing: Interpersonal Synchrony Increases Affiliation
Hove, M. J., & Risen, J. L. (2009) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2009.27.6.949 · Cited by 1,334 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Increasing evidence has emerged indicating that greater bodily synchrony is related to more positive perceptions of rapport (e.g., Bernieri, Davis, Rosenthal, & Knee, 1994; Hove & Risen, 2009; Miles, Nind, & Macrae, 2009).”
Effect of experimentally induced stress on vocal parameters.
Tolkmitt, F. J., & Scherer, K. R. (1986) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance · doi:10.1037/0096-1523.12.3.302 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Effect of postural congruence on client’s perception of counselor empathy.
Maurer, R. E., & Tindall, J. H. (1983) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0167.30.2.158 · Cited by 154 · see citing works
Lord, S. P., Sheng, E., Imel, Z. E., Baer, J., & Atkins, D. C. (2015) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2014.11.002 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
The effect of postural lean and body congruence on the judgment of psychotherapeutic rapport.
Trout, D. L., & Rosenfeld, H. M. (1980) · Journal of Nonverbal Behavior · doi:10.1007/bf00986818 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Synchrony in Psychotherapy: A Review and an Integrative Framework for the Therapeutic Alliance
Koole, S. L., & Tschacher, W. (2016) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00862 · Cited by 456 · see citing works
“However, the other study found that vocal pitch synchrony was negatively associated with therapist empathy and therapeutic outcomes (Reich et al., 2014).”
BackgroundLord, S. P., Sheng, E., Imel, Z. E., Baer, J., & Atkins, D. C. (2015) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2014.11.002 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Zilcha-Mano, S., & Webb, C. A. (2021) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.609585 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Reich, C. M., Berman, J. S., Dale, R., & Levitt, H. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Memphis (US)
- University of California, Merced (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology
- Publisher
- Guilford Publications
- Published
- 2014-05
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 481-494
- ISSN
- 0736-7236 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2156342111
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 4.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Action Observation and Synchronization
- Keywords
- psychotherapy, therapeutic relationship, rapport, nonverbal behavior, therapist-client interaction, treatment outcomes, client distress
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
