Attraction can be attributed to many different factors that are intertwined and it determines how we tend to choose our potential mates. We are all likely to look at different factors when judging an individual’s level of attractiveness and one of these factors is someone’s voice. The pitch of voice is closely related to one’s hormonal levels and therefore people use it as an indication of dominance, fertility, as well as attractiveness. Both men and women tend to judge someone as either attractive or not just by hearing the sound of their voice even without seeing them. This research paper will look into the effect of individual’s vocals on their level of attractiveness and it will focus on how deep voices play a role on people’s perception and judgments on how attractive or less attractive the speaker is.
There is strong evidence that what people find attractive or use to sell themselves is physical appearance, for instance a study carried out on politicians and voters clearly asserts that in most instances, the more attractive politicians tend to get more votes in comparison to their counterparts(Tigue, Borak, O’Connor, Schandl, & Feinberg, 2012). They not only use appearance but their voices too. The two channels i.e. voices and appearance support this study’s hypothesis because voices are associated with level of dominance and competence, while facial attractiveness is used to determine likability, however the weakness behind the cross-channel referencing is that both channels are used to make different attributions thus individually, a single channel cannot account for attractiveness effects in reality. However, this study refers to a specific country making it limited in terms of other parts of the world where the same theory may not suffice.
Another research that shows how deep voices influences people’s perception indicated that both males and females tend to choose male politicians with low-pitched voices. When it came to women, they attributed their choice to the attractive nature and authority they associate with men who have deep voices. This clearly showed that there is a significant correlation between how someone looks and the pitch in their voice. Among the men they opted for males with low-pitched voices because they perceived them to be competent and strong even without seeing them, this shows that males with deep voices are considered more dominant and authoritative even by their male counterparts. In this research, questionnaires were used after participants listened to different audios of male and female voices that were all requesting for a vote. The limitation of this study is that it did not show whether voting for a male or female was at all influenced by the context or situation at the time. However, the research method used was appropriate because it encouraged honest answers making the research valid. All methods carried out were ethical since they ensured anonymity by opting for questionnaires (Klofstad, Anderson, & Peters, 2012).
A study conducted to show that men preferred and found women that had high voice pitch in their speech (Fraccaro et al., 2011), also goes a long way in supporting this hypothesis. Men who were have been interviewed and questioned in these cases say they preferred women’s voices that had been manipulated to have a higher pitch rather than a lower pitch. The theory behind it being both men and women associate low pitch with dominance and authority a man might thus feel intimidated subconsciously by a woman with a low pitched voce. This may be true in as much as the evidence asserts. However the challenge comes in where it becomes difficult to match the face with the corresponding voice. Another thing that might be an extraneous variable to some extent is the fact that women’s voices tend to change naturally and become of a higher pitch during ovulation, thus one might not have the particularly “attractive’ voice during other times. This is something which the studies done might not consider while choosing participants, and the male respondents too might be oblivious of such a fact.
Different levels of low-pitched voices can have different meanings to people therefore resulting to differed perceptions. For example, a research study indicated that women like low-pitched voices in men up to a certain level of which if this pitch went lower than that level it brought out a different perception(Re, O’Connor, Bennett, & Feinberg, 2012). These women associated the lower pitch below 97Hz with health issues like lung damage that can be caused by smoking. Since this research made use of digitally averaged voices instead of real component voices, it could have created a bias since when a voice is enhanced digitally it has a tendency of sounding more attractive and captivating. The researcher made good use of the method of constant stimuli in measuring levels of voice preferences through quantitative analysis, which contributed, to research validity.
Women are exceptionally very sensitive to males low-pitched voices when they are menstruating or ovulating. A research that shows this correlation indicated that women are more attracted to deep voiced males when fertile and they tend to find such men masculine and attractive(Feinberg et al., 2006). The research further shows that deep voices sound more masculine and those men who possess such voices are considered to be more attractive to women. The limitation in this study was that the researchers failed to use absolute frequency changes when manipulating the voice frequency, which would have contributed largely to correct findings since this form of manipulation, makes voice changes clearer. According to the ethical principles in Psychology, the research followed all the necessary ethical codes.
Seemingly, the human race has its way of acknowledging what’s good and what is not. Studies have actually shown that there is a strong and undeniable correlation between voice attractiveness and sexual behavior(Hughes, Dispenza, & Gallup, 2004). In a research conducted on males and females it was found that those that had higher ratings of vocal attractiveness also had more sexual encounters and relatively more sex partners. A good voice is associated with good characteristics hence people make the judgment, that if one’s voice is great then the person probably has a good and desirable personality as well. However, this may not always be the case in instances where one has a psychopathology, e.g. narcissistic tendencies or dissociative identity disorder, such cases may involve manipulation, which may give false impressions.
Discussion
Clearly much of the evidence asserted in the different analyses of the articles reviewed support the proposal of this research. Strong correlations and different patterns have been identified in various instances all supportive of the fact that voices generally have an impact on how people perceive information, more specifically with relation to attraction, likability and dominance. The male’s in the studies carried out who have low pitched voices have the tendency of speaking to a male they perceive as less authoritative with a low pitch while the opposite applies for a male that is perceived to be in authority. Likewise socialization and the belief that men are to exhibit dominance over women creates the effect in women who perceive men of deep voices as people who are potential mate candidates. This is because the assumptions resonate with their schemas and mental constructs. Women most probably find men with high pitched voices less attractive because of the nature and nurture factors involved. Findings of his research can be conveyed via print media in form of publications e.g. in journals and the methodology, procedure as well as antecedent conditions would be taken into account for referencing in a case where a parallel research is to be done, or one that is similar, though of a different hypothesis. Further research can be encouraged to show whether manipulated voices of males and females elicit similar responses in certain conditions.
REFERENCES
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