Sixty-six fourth-year nursing students at the University of California at San Francisco were assigned randomly to an interpersonal small group experience under three different leadership formats: 1) with the leader always present; 2) with the leader in attendance at alternate sessions; 3) with Encounter tapes used and a resource leader available on call. The groups met twice weekly for eight weeks, and all sessions were taped. During the last week of class Gough's Adjective Check List was administered, and from the scales three nurse profiles were derived: Humanistic, Achievement-Assertion-Control, and High Self-Actualizing-Low Bureaucratic. No differences were found on the first two factors, but the programmed tape group showed significantly higher scores on the third factor. When differences in characteristic group behavior were analyzed from audiotapes, the use of leaderless groups in conjunction with structured taped direction proved to be an economical and productive strategy in the education of nursing students for whom a small group experience is indicated.