Multiple signals in human mate selection: A review and framework for integrating facial and vocal signals

Wells, Timothy; Dunn, AK; Sergeant, Mark J.T.; Davies, Mark N. O.

doi:10.1556/jep.7.2009.2.2

Cited by 30 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 154 publications

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“…Similarly, both facial and vocal information have been shown to predict courtroom outcomes (Chen, Halberstam, & Alan, 2016;Wilson & Rule, 2016) as well as to influence dating and mate preferences (Little, Burt, & Perrett, 2006;Wells, et al, 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Audiovisual integration in social evaluation.

Mileva

Tompkinson

Watt

et al. 2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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Our social evaluation of other people is influenced by their faces and their voices. However, rather little is known about how these channels combine in forming 'first impressions'. Over five experiments we investigate the relative contributions of facial and vocal information for social judgements: dominance and trustworthiness. The experiments manipulate each of these sources of information within-person, combining faces and voices giving rise to different social attributions. We report that vocal pitch is a reliable source of information for judgements of dominance (Study 1) but not trustworthiness (Study 4). Faces and voices make reliable, but independent contributions to social evaluation. However, voices have the larger influence in judgements of dominance (Study 2), whereas faces have the larger influence in judgements of trustworthiness (Study 5). The independent contribution of the two sources appears to be mandatory, as instructions to ignore one channel do not eliminate its influence (Study 3). Our results show that information contained in both the face and the voice contributes to first impression formation. This combination is, to some degree, outside conscious control, and the weighting of channel contribution varies according the trait being perceived.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Audiovisual integration in social evaluation.

Mileva

Tompkinson

Watt

et al. 2018

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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“…Thus far, research aimed at further understanding the evolution of cues and human preferences have typically investigated face and voice attractiveness in isolation (Wells, Dunn, Sergeant, & Davies, 2009) although the investigation of multiple cues has recently received increasing attention (e.g., Fraccaro et al, 2010;Saxton, Burriss, Murray, Rowland, & Roberts 2009). Multiple cues are beneficial since together they could provide a better assessment of mate quality and increase the chance of producing healthy offspring (Møller & Pomiankowski, 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Multiple cues are beneficial since together they could provide a better assessment of mate quality and increase the chance of producing healthy offspring (Møller & Pomiankowski, 1993). Investigating attractiveness in the presence of multiple cues may also prove to be informative regarding the relative strength and function of these cues when integrated (Roberts & Little, 2007;Wells et al, 2009). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of Human Attractiveness Comprising Face and Voice Cues

et al. 2013

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In human mate choice, sexually dimorphic faces and voices comprise hormone-mediated cues that purportedly develop as an indicator of mate quality or the ability to compete with samesex rivals. If preferences for faces communicate the same biologically relevant information as do voices, then ratings of these cues should correlate. Sixty participants (30 male and 30 female) rated a series of opposite-sex faces, voices, and faces together with voices for attractiveness in a repeated measures computer-based experiment. The effects of face and voice attractiveness on face-voice compound stimuli were analyzed using a multilevel model.Faces contributed proportionally more than voices to ratings of face-voice compound attractiveness. Faces and voices positively and independently contributed to the attractiveness of male compound stimuli although there was no significant correlation between their rated attractiveness. A positive interaction and correlation between attractiveness was shown for faces and voices in relation to the attractiveness of female compound stimuli. Rather than providing a better estimate of a single characteristic, male faces and voices may instead communicate independent information that, in turn, provides a female with a better assessment of overall mate quality. Conversely, female faces and voices together provide males with a more accurate assessment of a single dimension of mate quality.

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“…By protecting themselves from predators, hominoids may have shared more energy for sexual rituals (Miller, 2000). Vocal plasticity is a feature that may have either been sexually selected or evolved through relaxation (Wells, Dunn, Sergeant, & Davies, 2009). In birds, vocal plasticity is an adaptive trait to increase mating success.…”

Section: Self-domestication and Signal Evolution In Humansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual communication and domestication may give rise to the signal complexity necessary for the emergence of language: An indication from songbird studies

Okanoya

2017

Psychon Bull Rev

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For language to be a vehicle of thought, protolanguage must develop a degree of complexity that allows for the syntactic manipulation of symbol sequences. Thus, before language emerged, a process in which signals became complex must have occurred. Here, we submit a scenario describing the process in which courtship songs gained in complexity during the course of domestication of Bengalese finches. By comparing domesticated Bengalese finches with their wild strain, white-rumped munias, we found that female preferences for complex songs were coupled with domesticated relaxed environments to give rise to song complexity. Furthermore, we found that the outcomes of domestication in Bengalese finches include decreased psychological and physiological stress reactions, decreased aggressiveness, and changed plumage colors. These characteristics are consistent with Bdomestication syndrome,^originally proposed for mammals but now possibly applicable to birds. Our finding that domestication was a cause of signal complexity might be helpful in considering the process of signal evolution in human language.

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Multiple signals in human mate selection: A review and framework for integrating facial and vocal signals

Cited by 30 publications

References 154 publications

Audiovisual integration in social evaluation.

Audiovisual integration in social evaluation.

Perceptions of Human Attractiveness Comprising Face and Voice Cues

Sexual communication and domestication may give rise to the signal complexity necessary for the emergence of language: An indication from songbird studies

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