Interpersonal behaviors and factors may facilitate or hinder the ability of one person to exert influence over another. To investigate the impact of counselor smoking behavior and status on potential clients' perceptions of counselor attributes, credibility, and expected helpfulness, 134 female college students viewed one of three vignettes showing a counselor/client interaction during which the counselor smoked a cigarette, a pipe, or did not smoke. Prior to viewing the vignette, the counselor was introduced with either high or low status information. Subjects also completed counselor evaluation measures. An analysis of the results showed that subjects given the high status introductions held more positive help-seeking attitudes; but under the control vignette, subjects who observed the low status counselor ascribed to more positive attitudes toward seeking help. The low status counselor was perceived as more expert, attractive, trustworthy, and more willing to help than the high status counselor. The cigarette-smoking counselor was evaluated lower than the non-smoking counselor on all dimensions, with the pipe-smoking counselor falling in between. The non-smoking counselor was evaluated more favorably than both the cigarette smoker and the pipe smoker on the knowledge of psychology and ability to help concepts. (BL)