Assessments of the emotional states of others: conscious judgments versus emotional contagion

Clinicians have identified two techniques for gaining information about clients' emotional states: (1) they can consciously try to assess clients'emotional states and/or (2) they can monitor their own emotional reactions during the therapeutic hour, hoping to «feel themselves into» their clients' emotions. Usually, clients'emotional self-reports are in synchrony with their facial, vocal, and postural expressions of emotion. But, what happens when they are not?