Effects of female therapist title on perceived credibility and competence.

Abstract

A study was designed to assess subjects' perceptions of credibility and competence of different female therapist titles. The subjects were 278 college students (113 males, 165 females) who watched a 5 minute segment of an interview between a female therapist and female client. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of six title conditions: Dr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, First Name, or No Title. One of these titles was superimposed onto the videotape during the first and fifth minute of each taped segment. After viewing the videotape, subjects rated the therapist on 11 Likert-type scales which assessed their perceptions of the female therapist. Analyses indicated that two of the titles were perceived as significantly different from the others. In addition, males' and females' perceptions significantly differed on five of the titles. In general, the "Ms." title was rated lower than the other titles and female subjects consistently rated the therapist higher than did the male subjects. However, the actual difference in ratings for both the title effects and gender effects are too small to warrant any clinical importance.