| One purpose of this study was to experimentally test a hypothesis that directing a nonstutterer's attention towards his normal speech disfluencies would result in an increase in such disfluencies. A second purpose of this study was to test a hypothesis that differential changes in verbal and nonverbal indicators of speech disfluency would vary with differential scores by these same participants on self-report personality measures of need for social approval, perfectionism, neuroticism, and self-consciousness.; One hundred and twelve male college students served as participants for a Disfluency-Focus (D-F) group (n = 70), a Content-Focus (C-F) Control group (n = 21), and a No-Focus (N-F) Control group. All groups performed a pre-manipulation baseline speech task. Two of the groups were then given false feedback about their performance which was designed to increase their self-consciousness to either their speech disfluency (D-F group) or their speech content (C-F group), with the N-F group engaging in a rest-task during which no attention was paid to their speech performance. Following this manipulation, all groups then performed a post-manipulation speech task, identical to the first. Dependent variables included a variety of speech fluency and disfluency measures, as well as verbal and nonverbal avoidance behaviors.; The results showed that, contrary to prediction, the participants in the D-F group alone significantly decreased speech disfluency, but they also engaged in avoidance behaviors of speaking less and in a more cautious manner (i.e., with more inappropriate pauses). Only one personality style (need for social approval) demonstrated a pattern of significantly predicting change score measures (i.e., participants with higher levels of need for social approval tended to be the ones who, when made self-conscious of their speech, avoided speech more and were less able to manage the implicit demands for fluency that were placed on them).; This study suggests that speech self-consciousness and environmental demands for fluency, alone, may not be sufficient factors in the development and maintenance of stuttering. It is suggested that a biogenetic predisposition for speech breakdown may be a necessary component to the disorder. Also, these results suggest that a high need for social approval may negatively impact some individuals' responses to increases in speech self-consciousness and environmental speech fluency demands. |
