In the last chapter, we saw that the essence of the clinical interview is deliberate nonstandardization and flexibility. In an attempt to gain insight into the child's thinking and learning potential, the interviewer presents problems, modifies questions if the child seems to misunderstand them, devises new problems to test hypotheses arising in the course of the interview, and challenges answers to test the strength of the child's conviction. We also saw that the clinical interview can be used in a relatively brief, intensive, and focused manner or in a more lengthy and exploratory fashion.

But much more needs to be said about what happens in the clinical interview. My goal in this chapter is to examine the clinical interview in some depth to shed light on the activities of the interviewer and of the child and on the interaction between the two. At a time when so little is known about the clinical interview, my questions are of a general nature. What are the interviewer's thoughts and goals? What does the interviewer do to encourage the child to reveal and express thinking? (The next chapter has a more narrow focus and deals with specific tactics that the interviewer uses to put the child at ease, to explore thinking, and to test hypotheses about what is in the child's mind.)