Meta-perception of attitude judgment in individuals with voice problems

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the meta-perception of attitude judgment (in the domains of personality, physical appearance, social characteristics) in individuals with voice problems. METHOD: Twenty-two (11 vocally healthy and 11 voice-disordered) individuals participated in the study. Each participant rated his/her self-perceived severity of voice problems. To evaluate their meta-perception, each participant was asked to give attitude ratings in response to the question “How do you think other people rated their attitudes toward you?”. Attitude judgments were made using a semantic differential scale with 22 bipolar adjective pairs. The 22 bipolar adjective pairs were intended to cover non-speech characteristics of the individual’s personality, physical appearance and social characteristics. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Results showed that the dysphonic group gave significantly more negative rating (p<0.01) in their self-perceived severity of voice quality than the vocally healthy group. The dysphonic group also had significantly more negative meta-perception (p<0.01) than that of the vocally healthy group. Findings suggest that individuals with voice problems have a negative self-image, and negative attitude towards themselves.