ChitdPsyctioL Psychiat. Vol. 26, No. 3, pp. 369-380, 1985. 0021-9630/85 $3.00 + 0 inted in Great Britain. Pergamon Press Ltd. © 1985 Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry. CLINICAL JUDGEMENT IN CONTEXT: A REVIEW OF SITUATIONAL FACTORS IN PERSON PERCEPTION DURING CLINICAL INTERVIEWS TONY C LINE Schools Psychological Service, Inner London Education Authority Abstract—The literature on the clinical interview and clinical judgement has generally tended to ignore relevant research in social psychology. It is argued that the basic psychological processes involved in clinical judgement can be compared with those involved in everyday social judgement. This review summarises evidence on the sophistication and complexity of clinical judgement and on the likely impact on it of a number of factors: the judge's personality, the stimulus background, institutional norms, objectives in the interview, and the interaction process as influenced by situational factors. It is suggested that a model of clinical judgement is required that can encompass, interpret and find value in the artifacts of the clinician's situation. Keywords: Interview, clinical judgement, person perception INTRODUCTION WITH some notable exceptions the literature on the clinical interview and clinical udgement has tended to ignore relevant research in social psychology. Specific missions are coverage of work on person perception (Livesley & Bromley, 1973) nd on the impact of situational variables on judgement and behaviour. There have een earlier reviews which drew on this work incidentally (Adinolfi, 1971; Bieri, Atkins, Briar, Leeman, Miller & Tripodi, 1966) and theoretical texts and experi- mental reports addressing specific issues (Davis, 1971; Eiser & Stroebe, 1972), but o general review of the impact of the clinical situation on clinical judgement. Writers on clinical applications of social psychology have tended to focus on factors ffecting the client directly rather than those influencing the clinician's judgement Brehm, 1976; Hoch, 1971; Sheras & Worchel, 1979). In this context clinical udgement is defined simply as the impression formed by a member of one of the elping professions of the clients he meets with an overtly consultative purpose elated to a problem of social or personal well-being. An assumption is made that the basic psychologiczil processes involved in clinicad udgement are at least ancdogous, and probably identical, to those involved in every- ay social judgement (cf. Bieri et al., 1966). The training that a member of the helping rofessions receives builds on what Heider termed a *naive psychology' that may e assumed to have lasting influence on him as a way of thinking about how other eople behave and how one can make sense of what they do and say (Heider, Accepted manuscript received 30 April 1984 Requests for reprints to: Tony Cline, 105 Constantine Road, London NW3 2LR. 369