RESEARCH Individualism and Counseling: An Empirical Examination of the Prevalence of Individualistic Values in Psychologists' Responses to Case Vignettes BLAINE J. FOWERS MICHAEL TREDINNICK BROOKS APPLEGATE The authors examined psychologists' preferencefor Individualistic values in their responses to clinical case vignettes. Two samples of practicing psychologists (N = 229) were found to favor individualistic responses to clinical difficulties. The respondents chose utilitarian indi- vidualistic responses most frequently. The second most common response to the vignettes involved individualistic descriptions with expressive, growth oriented themes. Responses based on worldviews emphasizing socialembeddedness and responsibility were relatively infrequent. Participants favored individualistic views for both socially integrated and socially isolated clients. The implications of this bias in favor of individualistic values are discussed with respect to the prominence and influence of counseling theory and practice in contemporary society. It is now a commonplace idea that counseling is a value-laden enterprise. Unfortunately, this understanding is often viewed in the narrow sense that counselors and therapists should be careful about imposing their personal values on their clients. This is indeed important, but a great deal of recent work has outlined the ways in which counseling theories and practices seem to be systematically suffused with the individualistic values characteristic of contemporary American society (Cushman, 1990; Fowers & Richardson, 1993; Frank, 1978; Reiff, 1966; Richardson, 1989; Richardson & Guignon, 1988; Sarason, 1981; Woolfolk & Richardson, 1984). The promotion of Blaine J. Fowers is an associate professor in the Department of Educational and Psychologi- cal Studies at the University of Miami. Michael Tredinnick is a psychologist at the Counsel- ing Center at Georgia Southern University. Brooks Applegate is an associate professor in the Division of Physical Therapy at the University of Miami. Correspondence regarding this ar- ticle should be addressed to Blaine J. Fowers, Department of Educational and Psychological Studies, P.O. Box 248065, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124. Portions of this paper were presented at the 100th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, August, 1992, Washington, D.C. 204 Counseling and Values / April 1997 / Vol. 41