Low Vocal Pitch Preference Drives First Impressions Irrespective of Context in Male Voices but Not in Female Voices

Abstract

Vocal pitch has been found to influence judgments of perceived trustworthiness and dominance from a novel voice. However, the majority of findings arise from using only male voices and in context-specific scenarios. In two experiments, we first explore the influence of average vocal pitch on first-impression judgments of perceived trustworthiness and dominance, before establishing the existence of an overall preference for high or low pitch across genders. In Experiment 1, pairs of high-and low-pitched temporally reversed recordings of male and female vocal utterances were presented in a two-alternative forced-choice task. Results revealed a tendency to select the low-pitched voice over the high-pitched voice as more trustworthy, for both genders, and more dominant, for male voices only. Experiment 2 tested an overall preference for low-pitched voices, and whether judgments were modulated by speech content, using forward and reversed speech to manipulate context. Results revealed an overall preference for low pitch, irrespective of direction of speech, in male voices only. No such overall preference was found for female voices. We propose that an overall preference for low pitch is a default prior in male voices irrespective of context, whereas pitch preferences in female voices are more context-and situation-dependent. The present study confirms the important role of vocal pitch in the formation of first-impression personality judgments and advances understanding of the impact of context on pitch preferences across genders.

Does he sound cooperative? Acoustic correlates of cooperativeness

“…Several acoustic features influence the perception of how trustworthy and cooperative the speaker is (Belin et al, 2017;Knowles & Little, 2016;Montano et al, 2017;O'Connor & Barclay, 2017;Oleszkiewicz et al, 2017;Ponsot et al, 2018;Tigue et al, 2012;Tsantani et al, 2016). Their influence could stem from the pleiotropic effect of testosterone on both acoustic features and cooperative behaviours (O'Connor & Barclay, 2017).…”

“…In fact, both acoustic features influence perception of how trustworthy a speaker is. For example, lower-pitched male voices and voices with high pitch variations are perceived as more trustworthy in general (Belin et al, 2017;Oleszkiewicz et al, 2017;Schirmer et al, 2019;Tsantani et al, 2016) or when trust is linked to the political context (Klofstad et al, 2015(Klofstad et al, , 2012Tigue et al, 2012). It remains unknown, however, whether these acoustic features correlate with actual trustworthiness, and not only with perceived trustworthiness.…”

Voice-based assessments of trustworthiness, competence, and warmth in blind and sighted adults

“…Listeners judged each voice independently using a Likert scale (following, e.g., Feinberg, Jones, Little, Burt, & Perrett, 2005; Pisanski & Rendall, 2011). Although some previous studies have used a two-alternative forced-choice rating paradigm (e.g., Jones, Feinberg, DeBruine, Little, & Vukovic, 2010; Tsantani et al, 2016) or a scale/forced-choice hybrid (e.g., Vukovic et al, 2011), a Likert scale allows for more variance in listeners’ responses than does a binary task, and therefore may increase the likelihood of uncovering potentially subtle group differences.…”

“…Moreover, although trustworthiness has often been discussed as an element of warmth (Fiske et al, 2007), it remains unknown whether voice pitch affects judgments of warmth and trustworthiness in the same way. Indeed, studies with sighted listeners have indicated that speakers with low voice pitch are typically perceived as being more competent and trustworthy than speakers with higher voice pitch (Klofstad, Anderson, & Nowicki, 2015; McAleer, Todorov, & Belin, 2014; Tigue, Borak, O’Connor, Schandl, & Feinberg, 2012; Tsantani, Belin, Paterson, & McAleer, 2016). In contrast, studies examining voice-based assessments of warmth have produced equivocal results (Berry, 1991; Hughes, Pastizzo, & Gallup, 2008; Ko, Judd, & Stapel, 2009; McAleer et al, 2014).…”

TEMPORARY REMOVAL: Are attractive female voices really best characterized by feminine fundamental and formant frequencies?

“…Studies in which fundamental frequency or formant frequencies were experimentally manipulated in voices have reported that increasing fundamental frequency or formant frequencies increased women's vocal attractiveness (Kandrik et al, 2016;Jones et al, 2010). By contrast, decreasing fundamental frequency or formant frequencies typically increased men's vocal attractiveness (Feinberg et al, 2005(Feinberg et al, , 2011Kandrik et al, 2016;Jones et al, 2010;Puts, 2005Puts, , 2006Tsantani et al, 2016).…”