Voice Pitch Influences Perceptions of Sexual Infidelity

Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEvolutionary psychology Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 64 - 78
Main Authors O'Connor, Jillian J.M., Re, Daniel E., Feinberg, David R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2011
SAGE Publishing
Subjects
Adolescent
Adult
Female
Femininity
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Masculinity
Original
Pitch Perception - physiology
Sex Characteristics
Sex Factors
Sexual Behavior - physiology
Social Perception
Testosterone - physiology
Voice
Young Adult
attractiveness
masculinity
testosterone
voice pitch
Infidelity
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Summary:Sexual infidelity can be costly to members of both the extra-pair and the paired couple. Thus, detecting infidelity risk is potentially adaptive if it aids in avoiding cuckoldry or loss of parental and relationship investment. Among men, testosterone is inversely related to voice pitch, relationship and offspring investment, and is positively related to the pursuit of short-term relationships, including extra-pair sex. Among women, estrogen is positively related to voice pitch, attractiveness, and the likelihood of extra-pair involvement. Although prior work has demonstrated a positive relationship between men's testosterone levels and infidelity, this study is the first to investigate attributions of infidelity as a function of sexual dimorphism in male and female voices. We found that men attributed high infidelity risk to feminized women's voices, but not significantly more often than did women. Women attributed high infidelity risk to masculinized men's voices at significantly higher rates than did men. These data suggest that voice pitch is used as an indicator of sexual strategy in addition to underlying mate value. The aforementioned attributions may be adaptive if they prevent cuckoldry and/or loss of parental and relationship investment via avoidance of partners who may be more likely to be unfaithful.
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ISSN:1474-7049
1474-7049
DOI:10.1177/147470491100900109