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Shang J, Zhang Y. Influence of male's facial attractiveness, vocal attractiveness and social interest on female's decisions of fairness. Sci Rep 2024; 14:16778. [PMID: 39039258 PMCID: PMC11263343 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-67841-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2024] [Accepted: 07/16/2024] [Indexed: 07/24/2024] Open
Abstract
The present study employed dictator game and ultimatum game to investigate the effect of facial attractiveness, vocal attractiveness and social interest in expressing positive ("I like you") versus negative signals ("I don't like you") on decision making. Female participants played against male recipients in dictator game and ultimatum game while played against male proposers in ultimatum game. Results showed that participants offered recipients with attractive faces more money than recipients with unattractive faces. Participants also offered recipients with attractive voices more money than recipients with unattractive voices, especially under the positive social interest condition. Moreover, participants allocated more money to recipients who expressed positive social interest than those who expressed negative social interest, whereas they would also expect proposers who expressed positive social interest to offer them more money than proposers who expressed negative social interest. Overall, the results inform beauty premium for faces and voices on opposite-sex economic bargaining. Social interest also affects decision outcomes. However, the beauty premium and effect of social interest varies with participants' roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China.
| | - Yizhuo Zhang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, 211189, China
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Yuan Y, Shang J, Gao C, Sommer W, Li W. A premium for positive social interest and attractive voices in the acceptability of unfair offers? An ERP study. Eur J Neurosci 2024; 60:4078-4094. [PMID: 38777332 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.16422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2024] [Revised: 04/18/2024] [Accepted: 05/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
Although the attractiveness of voices plays an important role in social interactions, it is unclear how voice attractiveness and social interest influence social decision-making. Here, we combined the ultimatum game with recording event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and examined the effect of attractive versus unattractive voices of the proposers, expressing positive versus negative social interest ("I like you" vs. "I don't like you"), on the acceptance of the proposal. Overall, fair offers were accepted at significantly higher rates than unfair offers, and high voice attractiveness increased acceptance rates for all proposals. In ERPs in response to the voices, their attractiveness and expressed social interests yielded early additive effects in the N1 component, followed by interactions in the subsequent P2, P3 and N400 components. More importantly, unfair offers elicited a larger Medial Frontal Negativity (MFN) than fair offers but only when the proposer's voice was unattractive or when the voice carried positive social interest. These results suggest that both voice attractiveness and social interest moderate social decision-making and there is a similar "beauty premium" for voices as for faces.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Yuan
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
| | - Junchen Shang
- School of Humanities, Southeast University, Jiangsu, China
| | - Chunhai Gao
- College of Education, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jin Hua, China
- Department of Physics and Life Sciences Imaging Center, Hongkong Baptist University, Hong Kong
- Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Weijun Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
- Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Dalian, Liaoning Province, China
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3
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Ostrega J, Shiramizu V, Lee AJ, Jones BC, Feinberg DR. No evidence that averaging voices influences attractiveness. Sci Rep 2024; 14:10488. [PMID: 38714709 PMCID: PMC11076608 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-61064-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2023] [Accepted: 04/30/2024] [Indexed: 05/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Vocal attractiveness influences important social outcomes. While most research on the acoustic parameters that influence vocal attractiveness has focused on the possible roles of sexually dimorphic characteristics of voices, such as fundamental frequency (i.e., pitch) and formant frequencies (i.e., a correlate of body size), other work has reported that increasing vocal averageness increases attractiveness. Here we investigated the roles these three characteristics play in judgments of the attractiveness of male and female voices. In Study 1, we found that increasing vocal averageness significantly decreased distinctiveness ratings, demonstrating that participants could detect manipulations of vocal averageness in this stimulus set and using this testing paradigm. However, in Study 2, we found no evidence that increasing averageness significantly increased attractiveness ratings of voices. In Study 3, we found that fundamental frequency was negatively correlated with male vocal attractiveness and positively correlated with female vocal attractiveness. By contrast with these results for fundamental frequency, vocal attractiveness and formant frequencies were not significantly correlated. Collectively, our results suggest that averageness may not necessarily significantly increase attractiveness judgments of voices and are consistent with previous work reporting significant associations between attractiveness and voice pitch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Ostrega
- Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - Victor Shiramizu
- Department of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - Anthony J Lee
- Division of Psychology, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Benedict C Jones
- Department of Psychological Sciences and Health, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
| | - David R Feinberg
- Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
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Nylén F, Holmberg J, Södersten M. Acoustic cues to femininity and masculinity in spontaneous speech. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2024; 155:3090-3100. [PMID: 38717212 DOI: 10.1121/10.0025932] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2024] [Indexed: 09/20/2024]
Abstract
The perceived level of femininity and masculinity is a prominent property by which a speaker's voice is indexed, and a vocal expression incongruent with the speaker's gender identity can greatly contribute to gender dysphoria. Our understanding of the acoustic cues to the levels of masculinity and femininity perceived by listeners in voices is not well developed, and an increased understanding of them would benefit communication of therapy goals and evaluation in gender-affirming voice training. We developed a voice bank with 132 voices with a range of levels of femininity and masculinity expressed in the voice, as rated by 121 listeners in independent, individually randomized perceptual evaluations. Acoustic models were developed from measures identified as markers of femininity or masculinity in the literature using penalized regression and tenfold cross-validation procedures. The 223 most important acoustic cues explained 89% and 87% of the variance in the perceived level of femininity and masculinity in the evaluation set, respectively. The median fo was confirmed to provide the primary cue, but other acoustic properties must be considered in accurate models of femininity and masculinity perception. The developed models are proposed to afford communication and evaluation of gender-affirming voice training goals and improve voice synthesis efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fredrik Nylén
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå SE901 87, Sweden
| | - Jenny Holmberg
- Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Umeå University, Umeå SE901 87, Sweden
| | - Maria Södersten
- Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm SE141 86, Sweden
- Speech and Language Pathology, Medical Unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm SE-141 86, Sweden
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Neuenswander KL, Gillespie GSR, Lick DJ, Bryant GA, Johnson KL. Social evaluative implications of sensory adaptation to human voices. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2024; 11:231348. [PMID: 38544561 PMCID: PMC10966390 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.231348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2023] [Revised: 11/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
People form social evaluations of others following brief exposure to their voices, and these impressions are calibrated based on recent perceptual experience. Participants adapted to voices with fundamental frequency (f o; the acoustic correlate of perceptual pitch) manipulated to be gender-typical (i.e. masculine men and feminine women) or gender-atypical (i.e. feminine men and masculine women) before evaluating unaltered test voices within the same sex. Adaptation resulted in contrastive aftereffects. Listening to gender-atypical voices caused female voices to sound more feminine and attractive (Study 1) and male voices to sound more masculine and attractive (Study 2). Studies 3a and 3b tested whether adaptation occurred on a conceptual or perceptual level, respectively. In Study 3a, perceivers adapted to gender-typical or gender-atypical voices for both men and women (i.e. adaptors pitch manipulated in opposite directions for men and women) before evaluating unaltered test voices. Findings showed weak evidence that evaluations differed between conditions. In Study 3b, perceivers adapted to masculinized or feminized voices for both men and women (i.e. adaptors pitch manipulated in the same direction for men and women) before evaluating unaltered test voices. In the feminized condition, participants rated male targets as more masculine and attractive. Conversely, in the masculinized condition, participants rated female targets as more feminine and attractive. Voices appear to be evaluated according to gender norms that are updated based on perceptual experience as well as conceptual knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Gregory A. Bryant
- Department of Communication, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095, USA
| | - Kerri L. Johnson
- Department of Communication, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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Kaland C, Swerts M. The Attractiveness of Average Speech Rhythms: Revisiting the Average Effect From a Crosslinguistic Perspective. LANGUAGE AND SPEECH 2023:238309231217689. [PMID: 38156473 DOI: 10.1177/00238309231217689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2023]
Abstract
The current study investigates the average effect: the tendency for humans to appreciate an averaged (face, bird, wristwatch, car, and so on) over an individual instance. The effect holds across cultures, despite varying conceptualizations of attractiveness. While much research has been conducted on the average effect in visual perception, much less is known about the extent to which this effect applies to language and speech. This study investigates the attractiveness of average speech rhythms in Dutch and Mandarin Chinese, two typologically different languages. This was tested in a series of perception experiments in either language in which native listeners chose the most attractive one from a pair of acoustically manipulated rhythms. For each language, two experiments were carried out to control for the potential influence of the acoustic manipulation on the average effect. The results confirm the average effect in both languages, and they do not exclude individual variation in the listeners' perception of attractiveness. The outcomes provide a new crosslinguistic perspective and give rise to alternative explanations to the average effect.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marc Swerts
- Department of Communication and Cognition, Tilburg University, The Netherlands
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Williams MN, Lee Apicella C. A test of multimodal communication in humans using 881 judgements of men and women's physical, vocal, and olfactory attractiveness. Heliyon 2023; 9:e16895. [PMID: 37342575 PMCID: PMC10277517 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2022] [Revised: 05/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/31/2023] [Indexed: 06/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Human mate value is assessed on numerous variables including, reproductive potential and disease resistance. Many of these variables have been correlated with judgments of physical, vocal, and odor attractiveness. While some researchers posit that attractiveness judgments made across different sensory modalities reflect the same underlying variable(s) (i.e., the information is redundant), others suggest that judgments made in different modalities reflect different variables. Previous studies of human attractiveness indicate that attractiveness judgments of others' faces, bodies, and voices are intercorrelated, which is suggested to support the redundancy hypothesis. Less is known about body odor attractiveness. Only one study has simultaneously investigated the relationships between judgments of body odor, face, and voice attractiveness finding weak positive associations, but small effect sizes. In this study, we empirically investigate the correlation between different modalities of attractiveness in men and women in the largest sample to date (N = 881 ratings). For men, we find no correlations between modalities of attractiveness. However, for women we find odor, face, and voice attractiveness are weakly correlated. Moreover, a general attractiveness factor (i.e., a common underlying variable) modestly contributed to the observed correlations between modality-specific attractiveness judgments, providing some evidence for the redundancy hypothesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Nicole Williams
- University of Pennsylvania, Solomon Laboratories, 3720 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 09104, USA
- Division of Psychology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Coren Lee Apicella
- University of Pennsylvania, Solomon Laboratories, 3720 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 09104, USA
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Han C, Li X, Wang S, Hong R, Ji J, Chen J, Zhu H, Morrison ER, Lei X. The picky men: Men's preference for women's body differed among attractiveness, health, and fertility conditions. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111921] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Groyecka-Bernard A, Pisanski K, Frąckowiak T, Kobylarek A, Kupczyk P, Oleszkiewicz A, Sabiniewicz A, Wróbel M, Sorokowski P. Do Voice-Based Judgments of Socially Relevant Speaker Traits Differ Across Speech Types? JOURNAL OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING RESEARCH : JSLHR 2022; 65:3674-3694. [PMID: 36167068 DOI: 10.1044/2022_jslhr-21-00690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE The human voice is a powerful and evolved social tool, with hundreds of studies showing that nonverbal vocal parameters robustly influence listeners' perceptions of socially meaningful speaker traits, ranging from perceived gender and age to attractiveness and trustworthiness. However, these studies have utilized a wide variety of voice stimuli to measure listeners' voice-based judgments of these traits. Here, in the largest scale study known to date, we test whether listeners judge the same unseen speakers differently depending on the complexity of the neutral speech stimulus, from single vowel sounds to a full paragraph. METHOD In a playback experiment testing 2,618 listeners, we examine whether commonly studied voice-based judgments of attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, likability, femininity/masculinity, and health differ if listeners hear isolated vowels, a series of vowels, single words, single sentences (greeting), counting from 1 to 10, or a full paragraph recited aloud (Rainbow Passage), recorded from the same 208 men and women. Data were collected using a custom-designed interface in which vocalizers and traits were randomly assigned to raters. RESULTS Linear-mixed models show that the type of voice stimulus does indeed consistently affect listeners' judgments. Overall, ratings of attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, likability, health, masculinity among men, and femininity among women increase as speech duration increases. At the same time, speaker-level regression analyses show that interindividual differences in perceived speaker traits are largely preserved across voice stimuli, especially among those of a similar duration. CONCLUSIONS Socially relevant perceptions of speakers are not wholly changed but rather moderated by the length of their speech. Indeed, the same vocalizer is perceived in a similar way regardless of which neutral statements they speak, with the caveat that longer utterances explain the most shared variance in listeners' judgments and elicit the highest ratings on all traits, possibly by providing additional nonverbal information to listeners. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21158890.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Katarzyna Pisanski
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- ENES Bioacoustics Research Laboratory, University of Saint-Etienne, France
- CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage, Université Lyon 2, France
| | | | | | - Piotr Kupczyk
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
| | - Anna Oleszkiewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Agnieszka Sabiniewicz
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
- Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otolaryngology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
| | - Monika Wróbel
- Institute of Psychology, University of Wrocław, Poland
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10
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Shang J, Liu Z. The “beauty premium” effect of voice attractiveness of long speech sounds in outcome-evaluation event-related potentials in a trust game. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1010457. [PMID: 36312058 PMCID: PMC9606801 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1010457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2022] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research suggested that people with attractive voices had an advantage in economic games, even if the voices were only presented for 400 ms. The present study investigated the influence of voice attractiveness on the cooperative trust behavior with longer exposure times to the voices. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the feedback outcome evaluation. Participants heard a voice of the partner for 2,040 ms and decided whether to invest to the partner for a possibility to gain more money. The results showed that participants made more invest choices to the attractive partners, replicating the “beauty premium” effect of the attractive voices. Moreover, participants were more likely to invest to male partners. The ERP analysis for the outcome showed that the difference waves of feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitude were smaller in the attractive voice condition than in the unattractive voice condition, suggesting that the rewarding effect of attractive voices weakened the frustrating feelings of the loss. In sum, the present study confirms that attractive voices with longer presentation durations facilitate cooperative behavior and modulate the processing of feedback evaluations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
- *Correspondence: Junchen Shang,
| | - Zhihui Liu
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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Lenschow C, Mendes ARP, Lima SQ. Hearing, touching, and multisensory integration during mate choice. Front Neural Circuits 2022; 16:943888. [PMID: 36247731 PMCID: PMC9559228 DOI: 10.3389/fncir.2022.943888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Mate choice is a potent generator of diversity and a fundamental pillar for sexual selection and evolution. Mate choice is a multistage affair, where complex sensory information and elaborate actions are used to identify, scrutinize, and evaluate potential mating partners. While widely accepted that communication during mate assessment relies on multimodal cues, most studies investigating the mechanisms controlling this fundamental behavior have restricted their focus to the dominant sensory modality used by the species under examination, such as vision in humans and smell in rodents. However, despite their undeniable importance for the initial recognition, attraction, and approach towards a potential mate, other modalities gain relevance as the interaction progresses, amongst which are touch and audition. In this review, we will: (1) focus on recent findings of how touch and audition can contribute to the evaluation and choice of mating partners, and (2) outline our current knowledge regarding the neuronal circuits processing touch and audition (amongst others) in the context of mate choice and ask (3) how these neural circuits are connected to areas that have been studied in the light of multisensory integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constanze Lenschow
- Champalimaud Foundation, Champalimaud Research, Neuroscience Program, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Ana Rita P Mendes
- Champalimaud Foundation, Champalimaud Research, Neuroscience Program, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Susana Q Lima
- Champalimaud Foundation, Champalimaud Research, Neuroscience Program, Lisbon, Portugal
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Krumpholz C, Quigley C, Ameen K, Reuter C, Fusani L, Leder H. The Effects of Pitch Manipulation on Male Ratings of Female Speakers and Their Voices. Front Psychol 2022; 13:911854. [PMID: 35874336 PMCID: PMC9302589 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.911854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Vocal and facial cues typically co-occur in natural settings, and multisensory processing of voice and face relies on their synchronous presentation. Psychological research has examined various facial and vocal cues to attractiveness as well as to judgements of sexual dimorphism, health, and age. However, few studies have investigated the interaction of vocal and facial cues in attractiveness judgments under naturalistic conditions using dynamic, ecologically valid stimuli. Here, we used short videos or audio tracks of females speaking full sentences and used a manipulation of voice pitch to investigate cross-modal interactions of voice pitch on facial attractiveness and related ratings. Male participants had to rate attractiveness, femininity, age, and health of synchronized audio-video recordings or voices only, with either original or modified voice pitch. We expected audio stimuli with increased voice pitch to be rated as more attractive, more feminine, healthier, and younger. If auditory judgements cross-modally influence judgements of facial attributes, we additionally expected the voice pitch manipulation to affect ratings of audiovisual stimulus material. We tested 106 male participants in a within-subject design in two sessions. Analyses revealed that voice recordings with increased voice pitch were perceived to be more feminine and younger, but not more attractive or healthier. When coupled with video recordings, increased pitch lowered perceived age of faces, but did not significantly influence perceived attractiveness, femininity, or health. Our results suggest that our manipulation of voice pitch has a measurable impact on judgements of femininity and age, but does not measurably influence vocal and facial attractiveness in naturalistic conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Krumpholz
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
| | - Cliodhna Quigley
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Karsan Ameen
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christoph Reuter
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Musicology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Leonida Fusani
- Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Behavioural and Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Helmut Leder
- Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Shang J, Liu Z. Vocal Attractiveness Matters: Social Preferences in Cooperative Behavior. Front Psychol 2022; 13:877530. [PMID: 35693505 PMCID: PMC9177437 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.877530] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Research has shown the phenomenon that "what sounds beautiful is good" is a stereotype. It is not clear whether vocal attractiveness affects social decision-making in economic games. Using a modified trust game task, we investigated the neural mechanism of the influence of vocal attractiveness on cooperative decision-making. Participants first heard the voice (attractive or unattractive) of the partner. They had enough time to decide whether to cooperate with the partner for a chance to earn monetary rewards. The behavioral results showed that participants made more invest choices in the attractive partner condition, and they were more likely to cooperate with the female partners in the unattractive voice condition. The event-related potential (ERP) analysis for voice stimuli showed that attractive voices induced larger N1 amplitude than unattractive voices only in the male voice condition. And female voices elicited smaller N1 and larger P2 amplitudes than male voices in both the attractive and unattractive voices condition. A larger P3 amplitude was evoked by female voices and attractive voices. In addition, a more positive late positive complex (LPC) was induced by male voices and attractive voices. This study suggested that attractive voices facilitated cooperative behavior, providing evidence for the "beauty premium" effect of the attractive voices. Moreover, participants were more likely to cooperate with female partners. In the early stage, gender information and male vocal attractiveness were processed automatically, suggesting that male vocal attractiveness was processed preferentially than the female voice. In the late stage, participants allocated attention to both male and female vocal attractiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junchen Shang
- Department of Medical Humanities, School of Humanities, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhihui Liu
- School of Psychology, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
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14
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Voice Changes Across the Menstrual Cycle in Response to Masculinized and Feminized Man and Woman. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-022-00190-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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15
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Szczuka JM. Flirting With or Through Media: How the Communication Partners' Ontological Class and Sexual Priming Affect Heterosexual Males' Interest in Flirtatious Messages and Their Perception of the Source. Front Psychol 2022; 13:719008. [PMID: 35273536 PMCID: PMC8902147 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.719008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Because technologies are frequently used for sexual gratification it seems plausible that artificial communication partners, such as voice assistants, could be used to fulfill sexual needs. While the idea of sexualized interaction with voice assistants has been portrayed in movies (e.g., "Her"), there is a lack of empirical research on the effect of the ontological class (human versus artificial) on the voice's potential to evoke interest in a sexualized interaction and its perception in terms of sexual attractiveness. The Sexual Interaction Illusion Model (SIIM), which emphasizes influences on sensations evoked by artificial interaction partners, furthermore suggests that there may be contextual influences, especially sexual arousal, that may be crucial for the question of engaging in a sexualized interaction with an artificial entity. To empirically investigate whether the ontological class of the speaker (computer-mediated human in comparison to voice assistants) and the level of sexual arousal affects the heterosexual males' interest in hearing more flirtatious messages and the perception of the communication partner's sexual attractiveness, an online experiment with between subject design was conducted. Two hundred and fifty seven respondents were confronted with at least four, and voluntarily six messages from either a computer-mediated human or a flirtatious voice assistant, in interaction with being previously primed sexually or neutrally. The results demonstrated that the effect of sexual arousal was not prevailing on the interest in further messages and the attractiveness perception of the interaction partners, while the ontological class did so. Here, the voice assistant evoked more interest in further messages and the technology itself, while the computer mediated human was perceived to be more sexually attractive and flirtatious, and evoked more social presence. The communication partners social presence was shown to be the predictor with most explanatory power for the interaction partners perceived sexual attractiveness, regardless of whether it was human or artificial. The results underline differences between artificial and human interaction partners, but also underline that especially social presence and the feeling that the user is addressed (in terms of flirtatiousness) is crucial in digitalized intimacy regardless of the ontological class.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica M Szczuka
- Social Psychology: Media and Communication, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany
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When a man sounds like a woman: The consequences of puberphonia for perceived romantic desirability and attractiveness for relationships. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-02837-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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17
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Dickerson AL, Rowland JA, Trama AJE, Wraith‐Franck D, Hall ML. Male and female Australian magpie‐larks respond differently to variation in song frequency (pitch). Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Jessica A. Rowland
- Centre for Integrative Ecology School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Burwood Vic. Australia
| | - Asher J. E. Trama
- School of BioSciences The University of Melbourne Parkville Vic. Australia
| | | | - Michelle L. Hall
- School of BioSciences The University of Melbourne Parkville Vic. Australia
- Bush Heritage Australia Melbourne Vic. Australia
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia, Crawley WA Australia
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18
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Yuan M, Zeng J, Wang A, Shang J. Would It Be Better if Instructors Technically Adjust Their Image or Voice in Online Courses? Impact of the Way of Instructor Presence on Online Learning. Front Psychol 2021; 12:746857. [PMID: 34621230 PMCID: PMC8491790 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.746857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
This study investigated the effects of the changes in the image and voice of instructors in online video courses on online learner's learning achievement, social presence, learning satisfaction, and academic emotion. Two simultaneous online experiments were conducted with 122 college students in the image experiment, where the course videos varied in terms of the instructor's image (original image, face-beautified image, virtual image, and no image), and 93 college students in the voice experiment, where the course videos varied in terms of the instructor's voice (original voice, mutated voice, computer-synthesized voice). The results showed that learners viewing videos without instructor images had better learning achievements and less academic boredom relative to those who viewed videos with instructor images. However, the real instructor images were able to promote learners' learning satisfaction of instructor-student interaction more than no image and virtual image and promote satisfaction of instructor teaching more than virtual image. Meanwhile, learners' evaluation of the real instructor images was better than that of the virtual instructor image, and their evaluation of the face-beautified instructor image was better than the original image. Moreover, learners evaluated real instructor voices better than the computer-synthesized voice. In addition, the linear regression analysis revealed that the evaluations of both instructor's image and voice had a positive relationship with learners' social presence, learning satisfaction, and enjoyment, whereas they had a negative relationship with learner's boredom. And the evaluation of the instructor's image positively predicted student's transfer learning achievement. Thus, we suggested that the way of instructor presence should be well-designed and integrated with the course's instructional design and image and voice processing technology can be applied to assist online video course development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mingze Yuan
- Lab of Learning Sciences, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Jialing Zeng
- Lab of Learning Sciences, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China.,Department of Human Development, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States
| | - Aihua Wang
- Lab of Learning Sciences, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Junjie Shang
- Lab of Learning Sciences, Graduate School of Education, Peking University, Beijing, China
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19
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Stehr DA, Hickok G, Ferguson SH, Grossman ED. Examining vocal attractiveness through articulatory working space. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:1548. [PMID: 34470280 DOI: 10.1121/10.0005730] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2020] [Accepted: 07/04/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Robust gender differences exist in the acoustic correlates of clearly articulated speech, with females, on average, producing speech that is acoustically and phonetically more distinct than that of males. This study investigates the relationship between several acoustic correlates of clear speech and subjective ratings of vocal attractiveness. Talkers were recorded producing vowels in /bVd/ context and sentences containing the four corner vowels. Multiple measures of working vowel space were computed from continuously sampled formant trajectories and were combined with measures of speech timing known to co-vary with clear articulation. Partial least squares regression (PLS-R) modeling was used to predict ratings of vocal attractiveness for male and female talkers based on the acoustic measures. PLS components that loaded on size and shape measures of working vowel space-including the quadrilateral vowel space area, convex hull area, and bivariate spread of formants-along with measures of speech timing were highly successful at predicting attractiveness in female talkers producing /bVd/ words. These findings are consistent with a number of hypotheses regarding human attractiveness judgments, including the role of sexual dimorphism in mate selection, the significance of traits signalling underlying health, and perceptual fluency accounts of preferences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel A Stehr
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, 3151 Social Sciences Plaza, Irvine, California 92697, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, 3151 Social Sciences Plaza, Irvine, California 92697, USA
| | - Sarah Hargus Ferguson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Utah, 390 South 1530 East, Room 1201, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA
| | - Emily D Grossman
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California Irvine, 3151 Social Sciences Plaza, Irvine, California 92697, USA
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20
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Krems JA, Claessens S, Fales MR, Campenni M, Haselton MG, Aktipis A. An agent-based model of the female rivalry hypothesis for concealed ovulation in humans. Nat Hum Behav 2021; 5:726-735. [PMID: 33495572 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01038-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
After half a century of debate and few empirical tests, there remains no consensus concerning why ovulation in human females is considered concealed. The predominant male investment hypothesis states that females were better able to obtain material investment from male partners across those females' ovulatory cycles by concealing ovulation. We build on recent work on female competition to propose and investigate an alternative-the female rivalry hypothesis-that concealed ovulation benefited females by allowing them to avoid aggression from other females. Using an agent-based model of mating behaviour and paternal investment in a human ancestral environment, we did not find strong support for the male investment hypothesis, but found support for the female rivalry hypothesis. Our results suggest that concealed ovulation may have benefitted females in navigating their intrasexual social relationships. More generally, this work implies that explicitly considering female-female interactions may inspire additional insights into female behaviour and physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jaimie Arona Krems
- The Oklahoma Center for Evolutionary Analysis (OCEAN), Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
| | - Scott Claessens
- School of Psychology, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.,Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.,Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Melissa R Fales
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Marco Campenni
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.,Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
| | - Martie G Haselton
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Department of Communication, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.,Institute for Society and Genetics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Athena Aktipis
- Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. .,Interdisciplinary Cooperation Initiative, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. .,Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. .,Arizona Cancer Evolution Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA. .,Biodesign Center for Biocomputation, Security and Society, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
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21
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Lã FMB, Polo N, Granqvist S, Cova T, Pais AC. Female Voice-Related Sexual Attractiveness to Males: Does it Vary With Different Degrees of Conception Likelihood? J Voice 2021; 37:467.e19-467.e31. [PMID: 33678535 DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2021.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2020] [Revised: 02/05/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Previous investigations have found that female voice-related attractiveness to males increases when both conception likelihood (CL) and voice fundamental frequency (fo) are elevated. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a perceptual experiment where 78 heterosexual males rated sexual attractiveness of 9 female voice samples, recorded at menstrual, follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle under two double-blinded randomly allocated conditions: a natural menstrual cycle (placebo condition) and when using an oral contraceptive pill (OCP condition). The voice samples yielded a total of 54 stimuli that were visually sorted and rated using Visor software. Concentrations of estrogens, progesterone and testosterone were analyzed, and measurements of speaking fundamental frequency (sfo) and its standard deviation (sfoSD), fo derivative (dfo) and fo slope were made. A multilevel ordinal logistic regression model nested in listeners and in females, and adjusted by phase and condition, was carried out to assess the association between ratings and: (1) phases and conditions; (2) sex steroid hormonal concentrations; and (3) voice parameters. A high probability of obtaining high ratings of voice sexual attractiveness was found for: (1) menstrual phase of placebo use and follicular phase of OCP use; (2) for low estradiol to progesterone ratio and testosterone concentrations; and (3) for low dfo. The latter showed a moderate statistical association with ratings of high attractiveness, as compared with the small association found for the remaining variables. It seems that the voice is a weak cue for female CL. Female sexual attraction to males may be a consequence of what females do in order to regulate their extended sexuality across the menstrual cycle rather than of estrus cues, the use of paralinguistic speech patterns being an example.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa M B Lã
- Faculty of Education, National University of Distance Learning, Madrid, Spain; Centre of Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
| | - Nuria Polo
- Faculty of Philology, National University of Distance Learning, Madrid, Spain
| | - Svante Granqvist
- KTH Royal Institute of Technology, School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH), Department of Biomedical engineering and Health systems, Karolinska University Hospital, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden; Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology (CLINTEC), Division of Speech and Language Pathology, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Tânia Cova
- Coimbra Chemistry Center, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Alberto C Pais
- Coimbra Chemistry Center, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
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22
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23
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Albert G, Arnocky S, Puts DA, Hodges-Simeon CR. Can listeners assess men's self-reported health from their voice? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
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24
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Abstract
AbstractThe adult voice is a strong bio-social marker for masculinity and femininity. In this study we investigated whether children make gender stereotypical judgments about adults’ occupational competence on the basis of their voice. Forty-eight 8- to 10- year olds were asked to rate the competence of adult voices that varied in vocal masculinity (by artificially manipulating voice pitch) and were randomly paired with 9 occupations (3 stereotypically male, 3 female, 3 gender-neutral). In line with gender stereotypes, children rated men as more competent for the male occupations and women as more competent for the female occupations. Moreover, children rated speakers of both sexes with feminine (high-pitched) voices as more competent for the female occupations. Finally, children rated men (but not women) with masculine (low-pitched) voices as more competent for stereotypically male occupations. Our results thus indicate that stereotypical voice-based judgments of occupational competence previously identified in adults are already present in children, and likely to affect how they consider adults and interact with them in their social environment.
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25
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Schild C, Aung T, Kordsmeyer TL, Cardenas RA, Puts DA, Penke L. Linking human male vocal parameters to perceptions, body morphology, strength and hormonal profiles in contexts of sexual selection. Sci Rep 2020; 10:21296. [PMID: 33277544 PMCID: PMC7719159 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77940-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2020] [Accepted: 11/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual selection appears to have shaped the acoustic signals of diverse species, including humans. Deep, resonant vocalizations in particular may function in attracting mates and/or intimidating same-sex competitors. Evidence for these adaptive functions in human males derives predominantly from perception studies in which vocal acoustic parameters were manipulated using specialist software. This approach affords tight experimental control but provides little ecological validity, especially when the target acoustic parameters vary naturally with other parameters. Furthermore, such experimental studies provide no information about what acoustic variables indicate about the speaker-that is, why attention to vocal cues may be favored in intrasexual and intersexual contexts. Using voice recordings with high ecological validity from 160 male speakers and biomarkers of condition, including baseline cortisol and testosterone levels, body morphology and strength, we tested a series of pre-registered hypotheses relating to both perceptions and underlying condition of the speaker. We found negative curvilinear and negative linear relationships between male fundamental frequency (fo) and female perceptions of attractiveness and male perceptions of dominance. In addition, cortisol and testosterone negatively interacted in predicting fo, and strength and measures of body size negatively predicted formant frequencies (Pf). Meta-analyses of the present results and those from two previous samples confirmed that fonegatively predicted testosterone only among men with lower cortisol levels. This research offers empirical evidence of possible evolutionary functions for attention to men's vocal characteristics in contexts of sexual selection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Schild
- Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Toe Aung
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Brain, Behavior and Cognition, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - Tobias L Kordsmeyer
- Department of Psychology and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University of Goettingen, Gosslerstrasse 14, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Rodrigo A Cardenas
- Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA
| | - David A Puts
- Department of Anthropology and Center for Brain, Behavior and Cognition, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA.
| | - Lars Penke
- Department of Psychology and Leibniz ScienceCampus Primate Cognition, University of Goettingen, Gosslerstrasse 14, 37073, Göttingen, Germany.
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26
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Zäske R, Skuk VG, Schweinberger SR. Attractiveness and distinctiveness between speakers' voices in naturalistic speech and their faces are uncorrelated. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:201244. [PMID: 33489273 PMCID: PMC7813223 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Facial attractiveness has been linked to the averageness (or typicality) of a face and, more tentatively, to a speaker's vocal attractiveness, via the 'honest signal' hypothesis, holding that attractiveness signals good genes. In four experiments, we assessed ratings for attractiveness and two common measures of distinctiveness ('distinctiveness-in-the-crowd', DITC and 'deviation-based distinctiveness', DEV) for faces and voices (simple vowels, or more naturalistic sentences) from 64 young adult speakers (32 female). Consistent and substantial negative correlations between attractiveness and DEV generally supported the averageness account of attractiveness, for both voices and faces. By contrast, and indicating that both measures of distinctiveness reflect different constructs, correlations between attractiveness and DITC were numerically positive for faces (though small and non-significant), and significant for voices in sentence stimuli. Between faces and voices, distinctiveness ratings were uncorrelated. Remarkably, and at variance with the honest signal hypothesis, vocal and facial attractiveness were also uncorrelated in all analyses involving naturalistic, i.e. sentence-based, speech. This result pattern was confirmed using a new set of stimuli and raters (experiment 5). Overall, while our findings strongly support an averageness account of attractiveness for both domains, they provide no evidence for an honest signal account of facial and vocal attractiveness in complex naturalistic speech.
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Affiliation(s)
- Romi Zäske
- Department for General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience & DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Am Steiger 3/1, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Jena University Hospital, Am Klinikum 1, 07747 Jena, Germany
| | - Verena Gabriele Skuk
- Department for General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience & DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Am Steiger 3/1, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Jena University Hospital, Am Klinikum 1, 07747 Jena, Germany
| | - Stefan R. Schweinberger
- Department for General Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience & DFG Research Unit Person Perception, Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Am Steiger 3/1, 07743 Jena, Germany
- International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for the Science of Human History, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
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27
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Davidson L. The versatility of creaky phonation: Segmental, prosodic, and sociolinguistic uses in the world's languages. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2020; 12:e1547. [PMID: 33015958 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 09/11/2020] [Accepted: 09/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Creaky phonation (also known as creaky voice, vocal fry, laryngealization, or glottalization) is a voice quality that refers to shortened and thickened vocal folds that vibrate at a low and quasi-regular fundamental frequency with a long period of damping. Cross-linguistically, creaky phonation can span either short or long domains. When implemented on individual vowels or consonants (as in Zapotec or Montana Salish), it can signal phonemic contrast with other voice qualities, or it can be an additional acoustic cue to enhance other contrasts, such as tone (as in Mandarin or Cantonese). Another segmental use of creaky phonation in many languages is as a variant of glottal stop. Creaky phonation can also be implemented as a prosodic element that signals the end of a phrase (as in English or Mandarin), or indicates relinquishing a conversational turn (as in Finnish). It can also express meaning in a social interaction, such as irritation (in Vietnamese). Lastly, creaky phonation can be deployed as a sociolinguistic marker to establish identities, convey affect, or distinguish one speech group from another within the same language. In some social circumstances, such as the perception that young women use creaky phonation at greater rates than men do, it can be evaluated negatively by listeners. As creaky phonation can be combined with linguistic elements at various levels and is easily perceptible, it has taken on a remarkable number of roles in our linguistic repertoires. This article is categorized under: Linguistics > Language in Mind and Brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Davidson
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, New York, New York, USA
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28
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Beauty and Attractiveness in the Human Voice. J Voice 2020; 36:507-514. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jvoice.2020.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2020] [Revised: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 07/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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29
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Cussigh G, Ballester-Arnal R, Gil-Llario M, Giménez-García C, Castro-Calvo J. Fundamental frequency of the female's voice: A cross-country empirical study on its influence on social and sexual selection. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.109937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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30
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Environmental threat influences preferences for sexual dimorphism in male and female faces but not voices or dances. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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31
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Zheng Y, Compton BJ, Heyman GD, Jiang Z. Vocal attractiveness and voluntarily pitch-shifted voices. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2020.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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32
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Perceived Nervous Reactions during Initial Attraction and Their Potential Adaptive Value. ADAPTIVE HUMAN BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s40750-019-00127-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
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33
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Cartei V, Banerjee R, Garnham A, Oakhill J, Roberts L, Anns S, Bond R, Reby D. Physiological and perceptual correlates of masculinity in children's voices. Horm Behav 2020; 117:104616. [PMID: 31644889 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104616] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2019] [Revised: 10/06/2019] [Accepted: 10/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Low frequency components (i.e. a low pitch (F0) and low formant spacing (ΔF)) signal high salivary testosterone and height in adult male voices and are associated with high masculinity attributions by unfamiliar listeners (in both men and women). However, the relation between the physiological, acoustic and perceptual dimensions of speakers' masculinity prior to puberty remains unknown. In this study, 110 pre-pubertal children (58 girls), aged 3 to 10, were recorded as they described a cartoon picture. 315 adults (182 women) rated children's perceived masculinity from the voice only after listening to the speakers' audio recordings. On the basis of their voices alone, boys who had higher salivary testosterone levels were rated as more masculine and the relation between testosterone and perceived masculinity was partially mediated by F0. The voices of taller boys were also rated as more masculine, but the relation between height and perceived masculinity was not mediated by the considered acoustic parameters, indicating that acoustic cues other than F0 and ΔF may signal stature. Both boys and girls who had lower F0, were also rated as more masculine, while ΔF did not affect ratings. These findings highlight the interdependence of physiological, acoustic and perceptual dimensions, and suggest that inter-individual variation in male voices, particularly F0, may advertise hormonal masculinity from a very early age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robin Banerjee
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Alan Garnham
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Jane Oakhill
- Equipe Neuro-Ethologie Sensorielle, ENES/CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM UMR_S 1028, University of Lyon, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Lucy Roberts
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Sophie Anns
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - Rod Bond
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
| | - David Reby
- School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK; Equipe Neuro-Ethologie Sensorielle, ENES/CRNL, CNRS UMR5292, INSERM UMR_S 1028, University of Lyon, Saint-Etienne, France
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34
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Wallentin M. Gender differences in language are small but matter for disorders. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2020; 175:81-102. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-444-64123-6.00007-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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35
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Zhang H, Liu M, Li W, Sommer W. Human voice attractiveness processing: Electrophysiological evidence. Biol Psychol 2019; 150:107827. [PMID: 31756365 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107827] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2019] [Revised: 11/08/2019] [Accepted: 11/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Voice attractiveness plays a significant role in social interaction and mate choice. However, how listeners perceive attractive voices and whether this process is mandatory, is poorly understood. The current study explores this question using event-related brain potentials. Participants listened to syllables spoken by male and female voices with high or low attractiveness while completing an implicit (voice un-related) tone detection task or explicitly judging voice attractiveness. In both tasks, attractive male voices elicited a larger N1 than unattractive voices. However, an effect of voice attractiveness on the late positive complex (LPC) was only seen in the explicit task but it was present to both same- and opposite-sex voices. Taken together, voice attractiveness processing during early stages appears to be rapid and mandatory and related to mate selection, whereas during later elaborated processing, voice attractiveness is strategic and aesthetics-based, requiring attentional resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Zhang
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Meng Liu
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
| | - Weijun Li
- Research Center of Brain and Cognitive Neuroscience, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China.
| | - Werner Sommer
- Institut für Psychologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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36
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The Jena Speaker Set (JESS)-A database of voice stimuli from unfamiliar young and old adult speakers. Behav Res Methods 2019; 52:990-1007. [PMID: 31637667 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01296-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Here we describe the Jena Speaker Set (JESS), a free database for unfamiliar adult voice stimuli, comprising voices from 61 young (18-25 years) and 59 old (60-81 years) female and male speakers uttering various sentences, syllables, read text, semi-spontaneous speech, and vowels. Listeners rated two voice samples (short sentences) per speaker for attractiveness, likeability, two measures of distinctiveness ("deviation"-based [DEV] and "voice in the crowd"-based [VITC]), regional accent, and age. Interrater reliability was high, with Cronbach's α between .82 and .99. Young voices were generally rated as more attractive than old voices, but particularly so when male listeners judged female voices. Moreover, young female voices were rated as more likeable than both young male and old female voices. Young voices were judged to be less distinctive than old voices according to the DEV measure, with no differences in the VITC measure. In age ratings, listeners almost perfectly discriminated young from old voices; additionally, young female voices were perceived as being younger than young male voices. Correlations between the rating dimensions above demonstrated (among other things) that DEV-based distinctiveness was strongly negatively correlated with rated attractiveness and likeability. By contrast, VITC-based distinctiveness was uncorrelated with rated attractiveness and likeability in young voices, although a moderate negative correlation was observed for old voices. Overall, the present results demonstrate systematic effects of vocal age and gender on impressions based on the voice and inform as to the selection of suitable voice stimuli for further research into voice perception, learning, and memory.
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Pisanski K, Oleszkiewicz A, Plachetka J, Gmiterek M, Reby D. Voice pitch modulation in human mate choice. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:20181634. [PMID: 30963886 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1634] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Inter-individual differences in human fundamental frequency ( F0, perceived as voice pitch) predict mate quality and reproductive success, and affect listeners' social attributions. Although humans can readily and volitionally manipulate their vocal apparatus and resultant voice pitch, for instance, in the production of speech sounds and singing, little is known about whether humans exploit this capacity to adjust the non-verbal dimensions of their voices during social (including sexual) interactions. Here, we recorded full-length conversations of 30 adult men and women taking part in real speed-dating events and tested whether their voice pitch (mean, range and variability) changed with their personal mate choice preferences and the overall desirability of each dating partner. Within-individual analyses indicated that men lowered the minimum pitch of their voices when interacting with women who were overall highly desired by other men. Men also lowered their mean voice pitch on dates with women they selected as potential mates, particularly those who indicated a mutual preference (matches). Interestingly, although women spoke with a higher and more variable voice pitch towards men they selected as potential mates, women lowered both voice pitch parameters towards men who were most desired by other women and whom they also personally preferred. Between-individual analyses indicated that men in turn preferred women with lower-pitched voices, wherein women's minimum voice pitch explained up to 55% of the variance in men's mate preferences. These results, derived in an ecologically valid setting, show that individual- and group-level mate preferences can interact to affect vocal behaviour, and support the hypothesis that human voice modulation functions in non-verbal communication to elicit favourable judgements and behaviours from others, including potential mates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Pisanski
- 1 School of Psychology, University of Sussex , Brighton , UK.,2 Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw , Wrocław , Poland
| | - Anna Oleszkiewicz
- 2 Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw , Wrocław , Poland.,3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Taste and Smell Centre, Technische Universität Dresden , Dresden , Germany
| | - Justyna Plachetka
- 4 SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities , Wroclaw , Poland
| | - Marzena Gmiterek
- 2 Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw , Wrocław , Poland
| | - David Reby
- 1 School of Psychology, University of Sussex , Brighton , UK
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38
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Psychopathy and the Induction of Desire: Formulating and Testing an Evolutionary Hypothesis. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s40806-019-00213-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
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39
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Lassek WD, Gaulin SJ. Evidence supporting nubility and reproductive value as the key to human female physical attractiveness. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
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40
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Suire A, Bossoms Mesa A, Raymond M, Barkat-Defradas M. Sex-biased sound symbolism in French first names. EVOLUTIONARY HUMAN SCIENCES 2019; 1:e7. [PMID: 37588406 PMCID: PMC10427910 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2019.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Summary Low- and high-frequency vowels in the stressed syllable of French first names may respectively project impressions of largeness/masculinity and smallness/femininity. Abstract Given that first names can have a lifelong impact on the bearer, parents should choose a name based on the impressions they want their offspring to evoke in other people. This name-to-mental-image association can be mediated through sound symbolism: a natural link between the sounds and meaning of a word. From an evolutionary perspective, parents should pick names which sounds convey traits advantageous in human sexual selection: largeness and masculinity for males through lower-frequency sounds as opposed to smallness and femininity for females through higher-frequency sounds. Using a database of French first names from 1900 to 2009, we observed a sex-biased sound symbolism pattern in the last syllable, which is the perceptually prominent one in French. Male names were more likely to include lower-frequency vowels (e.g. /o/, /ã/) and female names higher-frequency vowels (e.g. /i/, /e/). Unexpected patterns in consonants were observed in masculine names with higher-frequency sounds (e.g. /s/, /ʃ/) in the last syllable and lower-frequency sounds (e.g. /b/, /g/) in the first syllable. However, little variance was explained and the modest size effect suggests that cultural traits influence these sex differences. Lastly, exploratory analyses revealed a phonetic masculinization in women's first names that has increased since the 1960s.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Suire
- ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Alba Bossoms Mesa
- ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Michel Raymond
- ISEM, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
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41
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Suire A, Raymond M, Barkat-Defradas M. Male Vocal Quality and Its Relation to Females' Preferences. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2019; 17:1474704919874675. [PMID: 31564128 PMCID: PMC10367192 DOI: 10.1177/1474704919874675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2019] [Accepted: 08/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
In both correlational and experimental settings, studies on women's vocal preferences have reported negative relationships between perceived attractiveness and men's vocal pitch, emphasizing the idea of an adaptive preference. However, such consensus on vocal attractiveness has been mostly conducted with native English speakers, but a few evidence suggest that it may be culture-dependent. Moreover, other overlooked acoustic components of vocal quality, such as intonation, perceived breathiness and roughness, may influence vocal attractiveness. In this context, the present study aims to contribute to the literature by investigating vocal attractiveness in an underrepresented language (i.e., French) as well as shedding light on its relationship with understudied acoustic components of vocal quality. More specifically, we investigated the relationships between attractiveness ratings as assessed by female raters and male voice pitch, its variation, the formants' dispersion and position, and the harmonics-to-noise and jitter ratios. Results show that women were significantly more attracted to lower vocal pitch and higher intonation patterns. However, they did not show any directional preferences for all the other acoustic features. We discuss our results in light of the adaptive functions of vocal preferences in a mate choice context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandre Suire
- ISEM, University Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
| | - Michel Raymond
- ISEM, University Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
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42
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Baus C, McAleer P, Marcoux K, Belin P, Costa A. Forming social impressions from voices in native and foreign languages. Sci Rep 2019; 9:414. [PMID: 30674913 PMCID: PMC6344506 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-36518-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
We form very rapid personality impressions about speakers on hearing a single word. This implies that the acoustical properties of the voice (e.g., pitch) are very powerful cues when forming social impressions. Here, we aimed to explore how personality impressions for brief social utterances transfer across languages and whether acoustical properties play a similar role in driving personality impressions. Additionally, we examined whether evaluations are similar in the native and a foreign language of the listener. In two experiments we asked Spanish listeners to evaluate personality traits from different instances of the Spanish word "Hola" (Experiment 1) and the English word "Hello" (Experiment 2), native and foreign language respectively. The results revealed that listeners across languages form very similar personality impressions irrespective of whether the voices belong to the native or the foreign language of the listener. A social voice space was summarized by two main personality traits, one emphasizing valence (e.g., trust) and the other strength (e.g., dominance). Conversely, the acoustical properties that listeners pay attention to when judging other's personality vary across languages. These results provide evidence that social voice perception contains certain elements invariant across cultures/languages, while others are modulated by the cultural/linguistic background of the listener.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Baus
- Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain.
| | - Phil McAleer
- School of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Katherine Marcoux
- Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Pascal Belin
- Institut des Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, CNRS and Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
| | - Albert Costa
- Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Catalonia, Spain
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43
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Arnocky S, Hodges-Simeon CR, Ouellette D, Albert G. Do men with more masculine voices have better immunocompetence? EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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44
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Davidson L. Perception of relative pitch of sentence-length utterances. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2018; 144:EL89. [PMID: 30180659 DOI: 10.1121/1.5048636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2018] [Accepted: 07/13/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Differences in relative pitch have several linguistic uses, such as tone and dynamic intonational patterns. In addition, listeners are also sensitive to average pitch differences both within and across male and female speakers. While much research uses isolated syllables to investigate how well listeners can distinguish differences in pitch, this study focuses on listeners' ability to identify relative pitch differences across whole utterances. Listeners are presented with 28 items of the same sentence spoken by female politicians and are asked to rate how low or high the pitch of the utterance is on a 5-point scale. Results indicate that listeners use all steps of the scale to categorize the mean F0 of the stimuli (range: 130-250 Hz) and not a "high/medium/low" system or one in which only the extremes are categorized as high or low.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa Davidson
- Department of Linguistics, New York University, 10 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003, USA
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45
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Spokespersons’ Nonverbal Behavior in Times of Crisis: The Relative Importance of Visual and Vocal Cues. JOURNAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s10919-018-0284-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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46
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Chang RCS, Lu HP, Yang P. Stereotypes or golden rules? Exploring likable voice traits of social robots as active aging companions for tech-savvy baby boomers in Taiwan. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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47
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Klofstad CA, Anderson RC. Voice pitch predicts electability, but does not signal leadership ability. EVOL HUM BEHAV 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2018.02.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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48
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Belin P, Boehme B, McAleer P. The sound of trustworthiness: Acoustic-based modulation of perceived voice personality. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0185651. [PMID: 29023462 PMCID: PMC5638233 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2017] [Accepted: 09/15/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
When we hear a new voice we automatically form a "first impression" of the voice owner's personality; a single word is sufficient to yield ratings highly consistent across listeners. Past studies have shown correlations between personality ratings and acoustical parameters of voice, suggesting a potential acoustical basis for voice personality impressions, but its nature and extent remain unclear. Here we used data-driven voice computational modelling to investigate the link between acoustics and perceived trustworthiness in the single word "hello". Two prototypical voice stimuli were generated based on the acoustical features of voices rated low or high in perceived trustworthiness, respectively, as well as a continuum of stimuli inter- and extrapolated between these two prototypes. Five hundred listeners provided trustworthiness ratings on the stimuli via an online interface. We observed an extremely tight relationship between trustworthiness ratings and position along the trustworthiness continuum (r = 0.99). Not only were trustworthiness ratings higher for the high- than the low-prototypes, but the difference could be modulated quasi-linearly by reducing or exaggerating the acoustical difference between the prototypes, resulting in a strong caricaturing effect. The f0 trajectory, or intonation, appeared a parameter of particular relevance: hellos rated high in trustworthiness were characterized by a high starting f0 then a marked decrease at mid-utterance to finish on a strong rise. These results demonstrate a strong acoustical basis for voice personality impressions, opening the door to multiple potential applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pascal Belin
- La Timone Neuroscience Institute, Mixed Research Unit 7289 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France
- School of Psychology, Institute of Medicine Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
- * E-mail: (PB); (PMA)
| | - Bibi Boehme
- School of Psychology, Institute of Medicine Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Phil McAleer
- School of Psychology, Institute of Medicine Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (PB); (PMA)
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49
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Smith KM, Olkhov YM, Puts DA, Apicella CL. Hadza Men With Lower Voice Pitch Have a Better Hunting Reputation. EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY 2017; 15:1474704917740466. [PMID: 29179581 PMCID: PMC10481060 DOI: 10.1177/1474704917740466] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2017] [Accepted: 10/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous research with hunter-gatherers has found that women perceive men with voices manipulated to be lower in pitch to be better hunters, and men perceive women with lower pitch to be better gatherers. Here, we test if actual voice pitch is associated with hunting and gathering reputations in men and women, respectively. We find that voice pitch does relate to foraging reputation in men, but not in women, with better hunters having a lower voice pitch. In addition, we find that the previously documented relationship between voice pitch and reproductive success no longer holds when controlling for hunting reputation, but hunting reputation remains a significant predictor of reproductive success when controlling for voice pitch. This raises the possibility that voice pitch is being selected for in hunter-gatherers because of the relationship between voice pitch and hunting reputation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David A. Puts
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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50
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Abstract
There are many differences between men and women. To some extent, these are captured in the stereotypical images of these groups. Stereotypes about the way men and women think and behave are widely shared, suggesting a kernel of truth. However, stereotypical expectations not only reflect existing differences, but also impact the way men and women define themselves and are treated by others. This article reviews evidence on the nature and content of gender stereotypes and considers how these relate to gender differences in important life outcomes. Empirical studies show that gender stereotypes affect the way people attend to, interpret, and remember information about themselves and others. Considering the cognitive and motivational functions of gender stereotypes helps us understand their impact on implicit beliefs and communications about men and women. Knowledge of the literature on this subject can benefit the fair judgment of individuals in situations where gender stereotypes are likely to play a role.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naomi Ellemers
- Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, Netherlands;
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