Elsevier

Evolution and Human Behavior

Volume 25, Issue 5, September 2004, Pages 295-304
Evolution and Human Behavior

Ratings of voice attractiveness predict sexual behavior and body configuration

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2004.06.001Get rights and content

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between ratings of voice attractiveness and sexually dimorphic differences in shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) and waist-to-hip ratios (WHR), as well as different features of sexual behavior. Opposite-sex voice attractiveness ratings were positively correlated with SHR in males and negatively correlated with WHR in females. For both sexes, ratings of opposite-sex voice attractiveness also predicted reported age of first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, number of extra-pair copulation (EPC) partners, and number of partners that they had intercourse with that were involved in another relationship (i.e., were themselves chosen as an EPC partner). Coupled with previous findings showing a relationship between voice attractiveness and bilateral symmetry, these results provide additional evidence that the sound of a person's voice may serve as an important multidimensional fitness indicator.

Introduction

There is growing evidence that the sound of a person's voice may convey important information. Studies have shown that listeners who hear voice samples can infer the speaker's socioeconomic status (Ellis, 1967, Harms, 1963), personality traits (Allport & Cantril, 1934, Zuckerman & Driver, 1989), and emotional and mental state attributes related to deception (Ekman et al., 1976, Streeter et al., 1977). Listeners exposed to voice samples are also capable of estimating the age, height, and weight of speakers with the same degree of accuracy achieved by examining photographs (Krauss et al., 2002, Lass & Colt, 1980, Lass & Davis, 1976). Independent raters are also capable of matching a speaker's voice with the person's photograph over 75% of the time (Krauss et al., 2002). Hughes, Harrison, and Gallup (2002) found that individuals with symmetrical morphological traits were rated as having more attractive voices, and as deviations from bilateral symmetry increased, ratings of voice attractiveness decreased.

Vocal development is influenced and modified by activational sex hormones during adolescence. Estrogen and progesterone shape the mature female voice, while testosterone modifies the male voice (Abitbol, Abitbol, & Abitbol, 1999) The same hormones that affect voice have also been implicated in the development of sex-specific body configuration features. For instance, waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in females become more accentuated during puberty, and WHR is an indicator of a female's hormonal profile (increased estrogen) and reproductive status (Singh, 1993). Similarly, during puberty, the male's shoulders broaden, increasing his shoulder-to-hip ratio (SHR). Broad shoulders and narrow hips appear to be shaped by testosterone (Kasperk et al., 1997). Because both voice and WHR/SHR are affected by sex hormones, we examined whether ratings of voice attractiveness were related to variation in SHR and WHR.

WHR and SHR not only influence judgments of attractiveness (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2001, Singh, 1993), but also, variation in these traits predicts different aspects of sexual behavior in both males and females (Hughes & Gallup, 2003). Women with low WHR (smaller waist compared with the hips) are rated as being more attractive (Beck et al., 1976, Singh, 1993), report having sex at an earlier age, and report having more sex partners (Hughes & Gallup, 2003, Mikach & Bailey, 1999). Men with high SHR (larger shoulders and smaller hips) are likewise judged to be more attractive (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2001) and are also more sexually experienced (Hughes & Gallup, 2003). Therefore, we also examined the relationship between ratings of voice attractiveness and different features of sexual behavior.

Section snippets

Participants

A total of 149 undergraduate students (77 females and 72 males) from the State University of New York at Albany participated in this study, which was approved by the campus Institutional Review Board. Mean age was 20.9 years (S.D.=4.8) with a range of 18–50. Participants were not informed of the purpose of the study.

Voice stimuli

Voices were individually recorded onto computer software (Microsoft Sound Recorder) in a small, quiet room as participants counted from 1 to 10 to obtain vocal samples that were

Voice and morphology

Male SHRs (M=1.15±0.076, range 1.01–1.47) exceeded female SHRs (M=1.04±0.075, range 0.84–1.19; t=8.69, p<.01). Male WHRs (M=0.86, S.D.=0.75, range 0.74 to 1.18) also exceeded female WHRs (M=0.78, S.D.=0.61, range 0.64 to 0.97; t=6.81, p<.01). Likewise, male BMI (M=25.35±4.06) was higher than female BMI (M=23.87±4.24; t=2.15, p<.05). Correlations between opposite- and same-sex ratings of voice attractiveness and morphological features are presented in Table 1, Table 2. Opposite-sex ratings of

Discussion

Our findings show that ratings of voice attractiveness can be used to predict significant variation in sexually dimorphic body configuration. Females with smaller WHRs and males with larger SHRs had voices that were consistently rated as more attractive. For females, WHR conveys information about hormonal profile, reproductive maturity, fecundity, and health (for a review, see Singh, 1993). For males, SHR correlates positively with beta-lipoproteins, hormones that are related to testosterone

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank R. Nathan Pipitone, Julie Johnson, Jennifer Rodden, Josianne Mondor, and Michael Frederick for help with data collection, and Marissa Harrison, Steven Platek, and Todd Shackelford for helpful comments on a previous draft of this paper.

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