Male and females vary in voice pitch, but does that affect how one is perceived as a leader? According to this study it does. Scientist Casey A. Klofstad, Rindy C. Anderson, and Susan Peters recorded 17 women, between the ages of 21 and 60, and ten men, between the ages of 20 and 55, saying ‘I urge you to vote for me this November.’ The pitch of both men and women ranged from 162 to 20, were altered +/- 20 Hz. In one experiment subjects listened to a pair of female voices and asked: “if they were running against each other in an election, which voice would you vote for.” A separate sample tested this on male voices. In another set of experiments, the same procedures as before were used to assess the characteristics of male and female voices. There were three sets of sample subjects. One set of sample subjects was asked, “which voice was more competent.” The second set of sample subjects was asked: “which voice is stronger.” The third set of sample subjects was asked, “which voice is more trustworthy.” A sample size of 83 undergraduate students (37 men and 46 women) at the University of Miami, a different sample size 89 passers-by (49 women and 40 men) at Duke University’s student union building and three separate sample sizes of 70 passers-by (35 women and 35 men) also at Duke University’s were used to study this phenomenon.
When looking at the results for the female experiment both male and women voted for female voices with lower pitches. Also, both men and women voted that lower-pitched female voices as trustworthy, competent and stronger. When looking at the results for the male experiment both men and women vote for men with lower-pitched voices. However, women were not affected by voice pitch when asked to assess competence or trustworthiness or strength. But, men do perceive that the lower the male voice is, the stronger the man could be.
Therefore the data suggest that humans regardless of gender prefer leaders with lower-pitched voices. So the next time your listening to a potential candidate for an election be more conscious of what candidate is saying and not the fluctuation of their voice.
Refrences
Klofstad, C. A., Anderson, R. C., & Peters, S. (2011). Sounds Like a Winner: Voice Pitch Influences Perception of Leadership Capacity. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1954756
Kimberly Madrid Quiles
November 12, 2018 — 2:48 pm
This is very interesting, I did not expect the people in the study to pick women more often than men. It does make sense that people with lower-pitched voices would be perceived as stronger. I thought this was a very interesting article!
Kayla Bolden
November 12, 2018 — 4:02 pm
I find that this article promotes the exact opposite of what women are told. I was soft-spoken in high school and many people told me I need to be more assertive to get what I want. So, the fact that lower-pitched voices are the “stronger” voice is interesting and makes me think why do people think that a loud/ assertive voice is more trustworthy.