Voice pitch influences voting behavior

• Published in: Evolution and human behavior Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 210 - 216
• Main Authors: Tigue, Cara C, Borak, Diana J, O'Connor, Jillian J.M, Schandl, Charles, Feinberg, David R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.05.2012
• Subjects: Attractiveness; Biological anthropology; Candidates; Choices; Dominance; Elections; Leadership; Males; Perception; Personality traits; Pitch; Political psychology; Politicians; Presidents; Psychiatry; Psychology; United States of America; Vocal; Voice; Voice pitch; Vote; Votes; Voting; Voting Behavior; Voting behaviour; Leadership; Vote; Voting; Pitch; Dominance; Vocal; Attractiveness; Voice
• ISSN: 1090-5138; 1879-0607
• DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2011.09.004

Abstract It may be adaptive for voters to recognize good leadership qualities among politicians. Men with lower-pitched voices are found to be more dominant and attractive than are men with higher-pitched voices. Candidate attractiveness and vocal quality relate to voting behavior, but no study has tested the influence of voice pitch on voting-related perceptions. We tested whether voice pitch influenced perceptions of politicians and how these perceptions related to voting behavior. In Study 1, we manipulated voice pitch of recordings of US presidents and asked participants to attribute personality traits to the voices and to choose the voice they preferred to vote for. We found that lower-pitched voices were associated with favorable personality traits more often than were higher-pitched voices and that people preferred to vote for politicians with lower-pitched rather than higher-pitched voices. Furthermore, lower voice pitch was more strongly associated with physical prowess than with integrity in a wartime voting scenario. Thus, sensitivity to vocal cues to dominance was heightened during wartime. In Study 2, we found that participants preferred to vote for the candidate with the lower-pitched voice when given the choice between two unfamiliar men's voices speaking a neutral sentence. Taken together, our results suggest that candidates' voice pitch has an important influence on voting behavior and that men with lower-pitched voices may have an advantage in political elections.