Could A Higher-Pitched Voice Cost A Candidate The Election?
Spectrogram of a female voice Dvortygirl Might the pitch of Hillary’s voice cost her the White House? According to a new study, it might. Researchers at the University of Miami and Duke University found that it’s not just what politicians say but how they say it that gets more votes. Specifically, voters naturally seem to prefer candidates with deeper voices, which they associate with strength and competence. The researchers say our preference for leaders with lower-pitched voices—an anatomically and physiologically determined characteristic—is a reflection of residual “caveman instincts.” “Modern-day political leadership is more about competing ideologies than brute force,” said Casey Klofstad, an associate professor of political science at Miami and co-author of the study. “But at some earlier time in human history it probably paid off to have a literally strong leader.” As part of the...