This study examined the effect of different amounts of client‐therapist interaction data on empathy ratings. Audiotaped therapist‐client interactions including client statement, therapist response, and subsequent client response were rated for therapist empathy by high‐functioning, experienced raters. Raters made significantly different judgments about levels of therapist empathy depending on the amount of therapist‐client interaction data available. The raters tended to give therapist responses higher empathy ratings when they did not hear the client's preceding st