Faculty Bibliography

The present study was designed to examine some as yet unresolved questions in the clinical judgement literature regarding the use of multiple belief systems, specifically religious and professional, when making a clinical judgement. A total of 87 psychotherapists participated in the study. Subjects read two brief vignettes, one of which described a religious patient, and one of which described a nonreligious patient, and rated the patients on two separate clinical judgement scales which measured degree of optimism vs. pessimism concerning the patients' responsiveness to treatment. In addition, participants completed a religious beliefs survey, a professional beliefs survey, and an internal conflict questionnaire. No significant relationships were found specifically between religious and professional beliefs. However, the strength of religious beliefs was a significant predictor of clinical judgement biased in favor of a religious patient. In addition, there was a significant interaction effect between strength of religious beliefs and strength of professional beliefs on the clinical ratings. Overall, then, the notion that people use multiple belief systems simultaneously was proven, but only when both the direction and magnitude of bias were taken into account.