Communicative Congruence and Communicative Dysphoria: A Theory of Communication, Personality, and Identity

1 Purpose: We present a theoretical framework that formalizes and defines the constructs of communicative 2 congruence and communicative dysphoria that is rooted within a comprehensive and mechanistic theory 3 of personality. 4 Background: Voice therapists have likely encountered a patient who states that a therapeutic target voice 5 “isn’t me .” The ability to accurately convey a person’s sense of self, or identity, through their voice, speech, 6 and communication behaviors seems to have high relevance to both patients and clinicians alike. However, 7 to date, we lack a mechanistic theoretical framework through which to understand and interrogate the 8 phenomenon of congruence between one’s communication behaviors and their sense of self. 9 Results: We review the initial notion of congruence, first proposed by Carl Rogers. We then review several 10 theories on selfhood, identity, and personality. After reviewing these theories, we explain how our 11 proposed constructs fit within our chosen theory, the Cybernetic Big Five Theory of Personality. We then 12 discuss similarities and differences to a similarly named construct, the Vocal Congruence Scale. Next, we 13 review how these constructs may come to bear on an existing theory relevant to voice therapy, the Trans 14 Theoretical Model of Health Behavior Change. Finally, we state testable hypotheses for future exploration, 15 which we hope will establish a foundation for future investigations into communicative congruence. 16 Conclusion: To our knowledge, the present paper is the first to explicitly define communicative congruence 17 and communicative dysphoria. We embed these constructs within a comprehensive and mechanistic 18 theory of personality and, in doing so, hope to provide a rigorous and comprehensive theoretical 19 framework that will allow us to test and better understand these proposed constructs. 20


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Voice-specialized speech-language pathologists should be well-accustomed to hearing patients 22 report that a new target voice essentially "isn't me" or "doesn't sound like me." This situation can be easy 23 or challenging to navigate, depending on the individual patient. It is also commonly reported in society that 24 "everyone hates the sound of their voice," (Dodgson, 2018;Jaekl, 2018;Parikh, 2020;Stillman, 2016;White, 25 2018) which might also come to bear on a patient's experience in voice therapy. The aim of this paper is 26 to present these two examples of lived experiences-which we will refer to as communicative congruence 27 and communicative dysphoria-in both theoretical and practical terms, to lay a foundation for future work.

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The first example, in which a patient complains that a target communication behavior somehow 29 "isn't me," reflects a sub-optimal level of what have termed communicative congruence. The concept of 30 psychological congruence dates back to the 1950's, when it was introduced by Carl Rogers, the founder of 31 Humanistic Psychology (1957,1959). Rogers defined congruence as a state in which a person's experience 32 matches and is integrated with their self-concept (1959). In the context of voice pathology, the construct 33 has been anecdotally but not empirically represented to date.

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Of some relevance to voice pathology, the construct of psychological congruence has been 35 examined in gender-diverse individuals whose gender identity varies from their sex assigned at birth.

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Specifically, transgender people who experienced higher levels of congruence reported fewer symptoms recordings of their own speech, which exemplifies what we term communicative dysphoria. Generally, the 48 term dysphoria refers to feelings of significant distress, unease, and/or dissatisfaction. The term used 49 herein, communicative dysphoria, is a conceptual expansion of the term vocal dysphoria. We elected to 50 use the term "communicative" instead of "vocal" here for a couple of reasons. First, vocal dysphoria and 51 vocal euphoria are terms that are deeply meaningful to members of the transgender and nonbinary 52 communities for their utility in describing their lived experiences. 1 While we and numerous members of 53 the transgender, nonbinary, and/or meta-gender community believe the experience of vocal and 54 communicative dysphoria can be experienced by anyone irrespective of gender identity (Helou, 2021), we 55 are sensitive to the possibility that some might view our use of the term or concept as an appropriation. 2 56 Second, the term vocal dysphoria suggests that only voice is the portion of speech that causes discord, 57 when a number of speech features might be perceived and relevant to one's lived experience. For instance, 58 a person might dislike the way they communicate because of their unique resonance, speaking pitch, 59 dysfluency, dialectal variations, the presence of a lisp, or even the robotic and stylistically limited output 60 often produced by alternative and augmentative communication devices. Thus, communicative dysphoria 61 seems a more appropriate term to encompass all the things that might bring one psychological pain and 62 discomfort (i.e., dysphoria) in their experience of their own communication behaviors.

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1 The authors wish to acknowledge their friends, colleagues, clients, and patients who are members of the transgender and nonbinary communities. The work represented herein stemmed in large part from the authors' work in gender affirming voice and communication services, and they have thus been guided and educated in no small part by these individuals. 2 While we believe that both cisgender and transgender individuals can experience a sense of dysphoria, the magnitude of dysphoria possibly experienced by trans and nonbinary individuals due to interlocking systems of oppression should not be equated to the possible communicative dysphoria a cisgender person experiences due to communicative incongruence.

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person can verbally communicate their identity in a declarative manner (e.g., "I'm a Southerner"), through 117 non-verbal means (e.g., wearing a shirt with a graphic of their state and/or flag), or via dialectal variations 118 (e.g., using a southern accent). Conversely, a person from the South who does not center a Southern 119 identity may actively strive to avoid any or all Southern-signaling behaviors. Individuals might "code switch" 120 using voice, speech, linguistic features, and/or jargon to signify identity, or through some combination of 121 these elements.

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While many people use verbal communication as their primary modality for language, we also 123 intend for the proposed constructs to also be inclusive of people who use non-verbal communication and  (Wickenden, 2010(Wickenden, , 2011. Indeed, the fact that companies exist to provide AAC users with 128 voice and speech features that are tailored to their own identities (e.g., gender, sexual orientation, age) 129 (Patel & Threats, 2016) reinforces the relevance of communicative congruence and communicative 130 dysphoria to all communicators, irrespective of modality. The present paper aims to describe Communicative Congruence & Communicative Dysphoria 8 self-schemas, i.e., that feel consistent with their identities (Hosany & Martin, 2012). We describe people 136 whose communication behaviors are consistent with their identity as having communicative congruence.

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We expect that this experienced congruence could occur purposefully and dynamically, changing on a 138 situation-to-situation or even moment-by-moment basis. However, there may be times when a person 139 chooses to endure communicative incongruence to achieve a social goal. For instance, a woman of color 140 whose sense of self is most congruent when speaking in African American Vernacular English may still use 141 a Standard American English dialect to avoid potential social penalties from her primarily white professional 142 colleagues. If this communicative incongruence is great enough in magnitude or endures for too long, the 143 resulting communicative dysphoria may negatively impact that person's core sense of self and well-being.

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Increasingly, more attention is being paid to the mental toll code-switching can take on minoritized 145 identities (Adikwu, 2020; Durkee & Williams, 2015; Gaines, 2020). We propose that communicative 146 incongruence may be one psychological process behind these negative effects. 151 Naess et al., 2005). While post-stroke depression is complex and multifactorial, part of this depression may 152 be due, in part, to an individual's inability to communicate in a manner that is consistent with their sense 153 of self. As another example, Mills et al. suggests that when AAC users whose speech generating device 154 outputs (i.e., a "synthetic" voice) are inconsistent with the person's identity, that "this identity mismatch 155 may impact the use and adoption of these devices and further perpetuate the divide between the user and

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A few theoretical frameworks exist that could accommodate our proposed constructs of 167 communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria. In this section, which is purposefully 168 circumscribed and very far from exhaustive, we will briefly review several of the most well-aligned options 169 before ultimately describing and justifying our top choice. We review several different frameworks because 170 they are all compatible with our proposed constructs, and because we acknowledge that our preferred 171 choice might prove to not be the best option. We will let time and the scientific process ultimately decide.

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Erving Goffman was a social psychologist and sociologist who is well known for his theories about 175 the "dramaturgical" aspects of human interaction and the various forms of "impression management" that 176 individuals engage in to influence others' perceptions of them. In his seminal book, The Presentation of Self 177 in Everyday Life, Goffman (1959) argued that individuals present themselves in a manner akin to how actors 178 present themselves theatrically, and that these presentations tend to be polished and curated in order to 179 present an idealized self to others around the individual. He acknowledged, though, that everyone also 180 can have hidden, private, or fully subconscious aspects of self that are not apparent to outsiders. Goffman 181 referred to identity management as an artistic expression, and studiously detailed scores of real-life 182 scenarios that reinforced his ideas about self-presentation. He also referred to "spoiled identity" as something people try to avoid, typically by withholding or hiding veridical information that might tarnish 184 their image (Goffman, 1963). While others in our field have promoted Goffman's dramaturgical theories 185 about social interactions and identity in the context of voice therapy (Rubino et al., 2020), we will not center 186 the current constructs in Goffman's theoretical framing for two reasons. First, Goffman's theories were not 187 explicitly linked to tools that would allow one to measure the phenomena of interest (e.g., a personality  beliefs about what it means to be a minister that will shape their attitudes and behaviors. When Sarah is 204 with their friends and not acting in their professional role as a minister, they may talk differently than they 205 would with a member of their congregation. Indeed, audience feedback matters greatly to self-206 presentation (Schlenker, 2012).

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However, for our own purposes, Identity Theory insufficiently encodes the numerous cognitive and 235 psychological processes that relate to identity. The four components described above are each distinct 236 processes that deal with meaning-making in both external and internal environments. Together, these 237 processes serve the function of "maintain[ing] perceived self-meanings within a certain range" (Burke & 238 Stets, 2009, p. 62). This hinting at critical processes without explicitly encoding them into the theoretical 239 framework is insufficient for accommodating communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria.

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Therefore, we next turn to personality science for a framework that maximally incorporates the cognitive 241 and psychological processes used to perform and enact an identity. DeYoung postulates that personality is an "evolved cybernetic system" (2015, p. 33). In this system, the subcortical structures of the limbic system and basal ganglia are goal achievement mechanisms comprising 254 the "cybernetic architecture" that allow humans to engage in dynamic goal-oriented behaviors.

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Like Identity Theory, CB5T is characterized by a cycle with five stages: 1) goal activation, 2) action 256 selection, 3) action, 4) outcome interpretation, and 5) goal interpretation, shown in Figure 1. Similar to 257 Identity Theory's identity verification cycle, the CB5T cycle occurs simultaneously except for the third stage, 258 action. Generally, people can only perform one action or goal at a time (not to be confused with multiple 259 motoric actions that comprise a single goal). Aside from differing terminology, the main and critical 260 distinction between the two cycles is that the CB5T has an intermediary action selection step.

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Comparatively, the identity standard in Identity Theory could function as both the goal needed to enact the 262 identity as well as informing and selecting the actions necessary to perform that identity. Thus, in this way,

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CB5T begins to differentiate as a more fine-grained and comprehensive theory of identity. This statement 264 raises the question -how are identity and personality different, if at all?

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To fully address that question is beyond the scope of this paper. For a thorough explanation, we 266 direct the reader to the original CB5T paper (DeYoung, 2015). However, in brief, "personality" as a whole 267 (not to be confused with personality traits) includes one's unique identities. As such, CB5T posits that

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Loosely, one can think of characteristic adaptations as roughly equivalent to how we have discussed identity 273 thus far. In section 3.4.2, we will elaborate on this statement. First, we will briefly describe personality traits

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A key premise of CB5T is that personality traits and characteristic adaptations allow for a

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However, if one's interpretation is that they are an avid coffee drinker who enjoys different kinds of coffee, 316 and they ritualistically employ a myriad of coffee brewing methods and knowledge (i.e., strategies), and 317 their goal is to have a cup of coffee, then this person might self-identify as a javaphile. Similarly, this 318 person's friends and family will likely also identify this person as a coffee-lover and treat them as such.

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Here, then, coffee itself and the act of getting it is, for some people, more expressive and symbolic of an 320 aspect of their core identity than it is for others.

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When faced with psychological entropy, the cybernetic system can achieve expected outcomes 337 (match) or fail to achieve the intended outcomes (mismatch). When a mismatch occurs, a person can

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However, if the mismatch is so severe that the old goals, interpretation, and strategies need to be 341 abandoned, then the system has encountered an anomaly great enough to "destabilize the system." the personality system will stabilize, the emotional dysregulation will dissipate, and the person will present 351 with a "reconfigured personality." These changes generally promote "alignment between traits and 352 characteristic adaptations" (DeYoung, 2015, p. 49).

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People high in Stability will require a relatively larger violation of expectations to cause a disruption 354 compared to someone lower in Stability. Similarly, people high in Plasticity will more easily adapt and create 355 new or modify previous characteristic adaptations than someone who is low in Plasticity. These two meta-356 traits allow people to navigate mismatches when they occur and help stabilize the cybernetic system. These 357 principles have implications for individuals seeking voice therapy, as we will later discuss.

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Using the principles of cybernetics, a model of regulation for complex systems, CB5T offers a 359 comprehensive and mechanistic explanation of personality that is consistent with data from 360 neuropsychology. DeYoung acknowledges that there is room for improvement in CB5T but proposes that

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CB5T is a mechanistic approach to understand the whole person that should be applicable to almost every

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We have detailed several theoretical frameworks that might serve as foundations for our proposed 368 constructs of communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria. We elect to use CB5T as our 369 theoretical foundation as it is rooted in psychological processes, and it is mechanistic, comprehensive, and 370 consistent with modern personality science. We will next discuss how our proposed constructs fit within 371 the CB5T framework.
As we described, a mismatch or an unexpected outcome can lead to psychological entropy.

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Generally, these mismatches can be trivial and easily resolved with little to no psychological entropy. For 374 instance, Sarah, an avid singer wakes up with a cold and sore throat and is unable to attend their scheduled 375 singing lesson that day. Sarah may be disappointed and annoyed, but they are able to update their 376 interpretation of the situation and change strategies (e.g., physical and vocal rest) to achieve their goal of 377 feeling better so that they can achieve their other goal of singing.

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Although euphoria is the semantic opposite of dysphoria, one should not assume that 423 communicative euphoria is an automatic byproduct of communicative congruence. In the present CB5T-424 based framework, we assert that a spectrum exists from complete communicative congruence to complete 425 communicative incongruence, and that when a person's cybernetic system (i.e., personality) is unable to 426 overcome or adjust to an experience of incongruence, psychological entropy results that might manifest as 427 communicative dysphoria. However, the structure of the CB5T, in our interpretation, does not 428 accommodate the idea that the opposite of dysphoria is euphoria, or that a lack of incongruence (i.e., the 429 experience of congruence) necessarily produces feelings of euphoria. In other words, the opposite of the 430 presence of psychological entropy in CB5T is the absence of psychological entropy. It seems the CB5T would 431 view an experience of communicative congruence as a healthy norm or an in-balance baseline of sorts. We 432 suspect that many people experience a fairly reliable sense of congruence and are not euphoric as a result; 433 they are just "them" in a healthy, balanced sense. Stated differently, CB5T does not allow "bonus points" 434 for being more congruent; solid congruence is the healthy state. So, when contemplating the technical 435 approach to measuring communicative dysphoria along a spectrum, it seems that the opposite end should 436 simply be anchored with a more neutral "no dysphoria" rather than "euphoria." Or, perhaps 437 communicative dysphoria should stand alone and be measured in terms of its perceived magnitude (e.g.,

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Nevertheless, evidence exists to support a lived experience of vocal euphoria and presumably also 440 communicative euphoria (though the latter term is not widely used by lay people of any group, to our 441 knowledge). Through the lens of the CB5T, a sense of communicative or vocal euphoria only seems possible 442 if or when communicative congruence is an explicit goal or desired future state. As a reminder, goals can 443 be conscious or subconscious. If communicative congruence is a person's goal, and that goal is achieved (e.g., being gendered correctly on the phone), then we expect the same cortical and subcortical structures 445 relating to goal achievement and reward (e.g., the mesolimbic pathway, the amygdala) to activate (Baxter

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Clinicians are likely already familiar with these concepts. When working with a patient with a voice 464 disorder, clinicians may hear a patient say, "this voice isn't me," when using a therapeutic target voice.

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Similarly, some transgender and non-binary individuals successfully work with a voice therapist or vocal 466 coach to help them find their "true voice" that is aligned with their personal and gender identities. We

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VCS proposes that people who feel a stronger sense of their identity will perform better on an interoceptive 495 awareness task. While it may be true that people with a stronger "sense of self" perform better on 496 interoceptive tasks, we propose that communicative congruence itself is a process that relates to 497 psychological processes affiliated with personality.

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While these two theories differ in their theoretical nature, they are not fundamentally at odds with 499 one another -the concept of congruence may be detectable in different ways. Although the notion that

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We now shift to examining how communicative congruence may relate to previously proposed 507 concepts that facilitate success in voice therapy, namely, self-efficacy and the transtheoretical model of 508 health behavior change. We assert that communicative congruence is highly relevant to these previously 509 published concepts and voice and speech therapy more broadly.

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The present paper proposes a theoretical framework onto which we can pin the conceptual spectra 548 of communicative congruence, communicative incongruence, and communicative dysphoria. Based on the 549 proposed theoretical framework, we have generated several testable hypotheses that will inform future 550 scientific inquiry. These hypotheses are listed and justified cursorily as follows.

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First and foremost, we hypothesize that these constructs exist and that communicative congruence it seems reasonable to expect that for some individuals, such features are sources of psychological discord.

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Our second hypothesis is that communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria vary over time 559 and situation but generally stay within an "attractor state" of sorts for most people. Individuals can 560 experience a highly stable sense of self even as specific details about their self/identity shift (Oyserman et  Swann & Buhrmester, 2012). Third, we hypothesize that because both constructs are highly related and 564 might be considered "adjacent," self-report of communicative dysphoria will negatively correlate to self-565 report of communicative congruence. Fourth, we predict that reported levels of communicative 566 congruence will negatively correlate to measures of depression and anxiety, which would be in line with

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Often, voice therapists center their efforts on shifting phonatory production and modifying the feel 578 and sound of voice during speech. We propose that our field would benefit from being more thoughtful, 579 programmatic, and evidence-based in how we prime and shift any given patient's perspectives about their 580 voice, speech, and communication behaviors. These changes likely have the power to promote or hinder 581 one's ability to achieve certain social goals and might come to bear on their psychological wellbeing. The

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proposed theoretical framework of communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria is intended 583 to prompt deeper exploration into how a patient's therapeutic targets and goals are related to them at the 584 level of self and identity. 585 586 6.0 Conclusions congruence and minimizing their communicative dysphoria, either implicitly or explicitly. We propose that 589 these concepts are relevant to the science and clinical practice of speech-language pathology. In the 590 present paper we have formalized the terms communicative congruence and communicative dysphoria, 591 and mapped these concepts onto a mechanistic and comprehensive theory of personality. We hope that 592 this theoretical framework will eventually serve to inform clinical practice and scientific investigations by 593 offering testable hypotheses about these constructs.