Voting And Voice: Could Tone Influence Which Candidate You Choose?

Could the tone of a candidates voice influence whether he or she wins in office?

New findings published in Political Psychology reveal that candidates who ran in the 2012 U.S. House elections were more likely to win based on on certain vocal pitches. For instance, male opponents were more likely to win elections if they had lower voices, while female candidates were more likely to win if they had higher pitched voices. Furthermore, when facing female opponents, candidates with higher voices were more successful and particularly so in the case of male candidates.

"As individuals with lower voices have higher levels of testosterone, and as testosterone correlates with physical and social aggressiveness, it could be that male candidates with lower voices are perceived as too aggressive when paired against a female opponent," said Casey Klofstad, associate professor of political science at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, who is corresponding author on both studies, in a news release.

Another study published in the journal PLOS ONE looked at an experiment to examine why voters preferred leaders with lower voices. During the experiment, researchers asked study participants to listen to pairs of recorded voices that had been manipulated to vary only in pitch. Participants were then asked which voice of each pair was stronger, older, more competent and which they felt they would be more likely to vote for. Findings revealed that the experiment showed that the preference for leaders with low-pitched voices correlated with the perception that speakers with lower voices are more competent, older and stronger.

"While these findings add to our understanding of why voters prefer leaders with lower voices, future studies are needed to test whether people with lower voices are actually stronger and more competent leaders," Klofstad concluded.

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