How Unnatural Vocal Behaviors Can Make You

More Attractive

Presented By:

Rachel Korkoske

How Society Views Attractive People Both vocal and physical attractiveness influence

our impressions of other people Attractive people:

Receive more favorable expectations Enjoy better social exchanges Develop more favorable self images Manifest more confident interpersonal behavior

patterns Compared to unattractive communicators,

attractive communicators are more verbally and behaviorally persuasive (better communicators)

Attractive People Cont…

A trend also seen with attractive communicators is that they are: more fluent and faster speakers report higher SAT scores higher GPAs describe themselves more favorably concerning

the dimensions of: persuasiveness Attractiveness optimism about getting a good job.

Attractive People Cont…

Attractive people are perceived as more socially skillful and may in fact be more skillful

This is because more favorable expectations of attractive people lead to better social exchanges, more favorable self-images, and better social skills

Vocal Attractiveness

Attractiveness of a person’s voice influences personal perception in much the same way as physical attractiveness

Studies have shown that people agree on the attractiveness of a person’s voice, just as they would tend to agree on the attractiveness of a person’s face

Vocal attractiveness is associated with more positive ratings of personality

The existence of vocal attractiveness stereotypes extends beyond personal impressions

Vocal Attractiveness Cont…

Voice, as well as facial features, can be an important influence in the perception of physical attractiveness

Synergy

The attractiveness stereotype is not only a visual phenomenon, but also a vocal phenomenon Attractiveness is a function of both one’s physical

appearance and one’s voice The joint affect of vocal and facial

attractiveness can be described as synergistic only people with both types of attractiveness elicit

higher ratings People combine visual and auditory information

into a unitary concept of attractiveness

Synergy Cont…

The perception of physical attractiveness is influenced by vocal attractivenessAnd

The perception of vocal attractiveness is influenced by physical attractiveness(When both visual and audio cues are

available)

Vocal Impressions

Facially attractive people do well socially and are credited with better interpersonal skills

Vocally attractive people are not and are therefore credited with more “private attributes”

Even though facial and vocal impressions are credited differently, the overall positivity is the same

Higher facial and vocal maturity result in impressions of higher dominance and lower warmth and agreeableness

Vocal Impressions Cont…

Impressions of higher competence and dominance were produced from faster speech rate fewer pauses and repetitions more dynamic delivery

The attractive voice is perceived as more loud and resonant

Vocal attractiveness is not related to personality traits!!!

How We Judge Other People

Our own attractiveness affects how we judge other people

In one study, judges saw themselves as vocally similar to vocally attractive targets and expressed greater desire to associate with them -- Physical attractiveness had the same effect!

More Judging People…

Most people are aware of their physical attractiveness, but not their own vocal attractiveness

People with high physical attractiveness are highly aware of other people’s physical attractiveness, but if a person is not aware of their own vocal attractiveness, then they are not particularly aware of other’s vocal attractiveness

Stereotypes

Vocal images exist that are shared by groups of people – Vocal images are influenced by Culture Peer pressure Family Mass media

In movies, larger men have deeper voices – Darth Vader had a voice over because the actor who played him wasn’t “convincing”

Stereotypes Cont…

When women attempted to judge the physical characteristics of men based on voice only, their estimates were incorrect except for weight There is no correlation between male vocal

and body characteristics However, other research has shown

that listeners given examples of voice can identify sex, age, and race

Why Change Your Voice?

Vocal image is the sound or voice that an individual either likes or dislikes, identifies with, or doesn’t identify with

When people find particular vocal characteristics appealing, they may attempt to assume those characteristics by altering their vocal style

Sexual behavior, especially sexual stereotyping, influences one’s vocal image and usage

Why Change? Cont…

People may either deliberately or subconsciously try to use vocal characteristics associated with an acceptable or highly desirable voice

There is the possibility that vocal gender images (that are known to be acceptable) could encourage people to strive (either consciously or unconsciously) towards them This could lead to unnatural modes of vocal

production, which may develop into a voice disorder

What Makes a Sexy Voice?

Communicative intent can be found in how a message is being said (as opposed to what is being said in terms of form, content, and use)

Metalinguistic or paralinguistic aspects of language influence a verbal message Pitch Intonation and juncture Voice quality differences (i.e. breathiness,

harshness, and hoarseness)

A Sexy Voice Cont…

Common “sexy” female stereotypes: Huskiness Breathiness Low pitch

A common “sexy” male stereotype is low habitual pitch, perhaps associated with hoarseness Labeled as men’s attempt to assert their

masculinity

Hmmm…

In one study - neither males nor females judged “breathiness” or “lowness” to be highly correlated with “sexiness” In fact females perceived tenseness in breathy

voices! However, in another study, females and males

were asked to stimulate a sexy voice and all of them lowered their fundamental frequencies and many showed breathiness in their voices! Suggesting that stereotypes are based on learned

behaviors, not actual characteristics of sexiness!

In Another Study…

When males and females were asked to simulate a “sexy” voice Fundamental frequencies dropped on average

20 Hz lower for males 25 Hz lower for females Could be an attempt to be more breathy or husky?

They slowed their rate of speech Could it be an attempt to add more emotion or a result of

trying to radically alter a natural speaking voice? Both lower frequency and slower rate are

traditionally considered more masculine traits

Our Perceptions

Males and Females are similar in their perceptions of female voice qualities

Males listeners found passive female vocal characteristics more salient aspects of female voice

Female listeners found active female vocal characteristics to be more important (ie “colorful”, “lively”, “interesting”, and “natural”)

So, do men find passive women more attractive?

Our Perceptions Cont…

Dominant affects are found more attractive in the face, however submissive affects are rated as more attractive in the voice

Females (compared to males) are considered relatively more attractive when displaying dominant affects than when displaying submissive affects

Both males and females found more active characteristics of voice to be sexier, which casts doubt that men prefer passive sexual roles in women

What do Men Like?

Men may value the “housewife” role more. There seems to be a duel role for women; a passive

role associated with housewives, and a more active role, perhaps associated with a mistress

This message is brought to you by outdated research

This research may be good news for advertisers Advertisers capitalize on sexual overtones to sell

products to men and therefore vocal characteristics in women that are found to be attractive could be used to sell products

What do Women Like?

Men were judged as more attractive, older, heavier, and more likely to have chest hair and a more muscular build when they had voices consisting of closely spaced, low-frequency harmonics

Less masculine sounding speakers have higher formant frequencies

Women show extremely strong agreement in all areas of these judgments

The judgments were highly dependant on male vocal characteristics

Women Like Cont…

There is no association between levels of testosterone and measures of vocal characteristics

There is a correlation between vocal frequency and body size during adolescence because the body size increases and the voice deepens simultaneously, however the correlation disappears during the later stages of puberty

Vocal Pathologies

Vocal image may play an important role in the development of vocal pathologies

Use of a pseudo-sexy voice could lead to abnormalities in vocal function if it involves deviations from the person’s natural mode of voice production

Typical attempts to sound sexy include lowering pitch and sounding more breathy, which have been shown to be associated with vocal pathologies

Vocal Pathologies Cont…

A person may force their vocal mechanism to perform damaging or unnatural behaviors

This vocal abuse may include inappropriate loudness, changes in pitch level, or forced breathiness

An attempt at a sexier voice may be a causative factor in various vocal pathologies, such as contact ulcers, chronic hoarseness, or permanently breathy or whispering voice quality due to excessive tension required to maintain a lowered pitch

References

Batstone, S. & Tuomi, S. (1981). Perceptual characteristics of female voices. Language & Speech, 24 (2), 111-123.

Collins, S. (2000). Men’s voices and women’s choices. Animal Behaviour, 60 (6), 773-780.

Larrance, D. & Zuckerman, M. (1981). Facial attractiveness and vocal likeability as determinants of nonverbal sending skills. Journal of Personality, 49 (4), 349-362.

References Cont…

Miyake, K. & Zuckerman, M. (1993). Beyond personality impressions: Effects of physical and vocal attractiveness on false consensus, social comparison, affiliation, and assumed and perceived similarity. Journal of Personality, 61 (3), 411-437.

Raines, R., Hechtman, S., & Rosenthal, R. (1990). Physical attractiveness of face and voice: Effects of positivity, dominance, and sex. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20 (19), 1558-1578.

Tuomi, S. & Fisher, J. (1979). Characteristics of simulated sexy voice. Folia Phoniatrica, 31 (4), 242-249.

References Cont…

Zuckerman, M. & Miyake, K. (1993). The attractive voice: What makes it so? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 17 (2), 119-135.

Zuckerman, M., Miyake, K., & Elkin, C. (1995). Effects of attractiveness and maturity of face

and voice on interpersonal impressions. Journal of Research in Personality, 29 (2), 253-272.