| Preference accommodation has been found to contribute to more positive ratings of the therapeutic alliance. However, few studies have examined what personality traits might be preferred by clients and how preference accommodation for therapist personality might be related to ratings of collaboration and the bond in the therapeutic relationship. The present study examinedthese questions using a questionnaire posted to Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), and 330 participants were recruited. Clients completedmeasuresof collaboration, working alliance, client satisfaction with therapy and their therapist, personality, and self-esteem. Results of the study showed significant positive and negative correlations between client and ideal therapist personality, as well as ideal and current therapist personality. Six mediation analyses found partial mediation withcollaboration and bond as mediators between ideal and current therapist personality match and satisfaction.There is a general discussion of our results, the limitations of our study, future directions, clinical implications, and conclusions.KeyWords:psychotherapy, personality, preference accommodation, collaboration, therapeutic bond, self-esteem |