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The hum of status
Matt Yglesias quotes Franz de Waal's new book:
They [people conversing] settle on a single hum, and it is always the lower status person who does the adjusting. This was first demonstrated in an analysis of the Larry King Live television show. The host, Larry King, would adjust his timbre to that of high-ranking guests, like Mike Wallace or Elizabeth Taylor. Low-ranking guests, on the other hand, would adjust their timbre to that of King. The clearest adjustment to King's voice, indicating lack of confidence, came from former Vice President Dan Quayle.
The same spectral analysis has been applied to televised debates between U.S. presidential candidates. In all eight elections between 1960 and 2000 the popular vote matched the voice analysis: the majority of people voted for the candidate who held his own timbre rather than the one who adjusted.
On another note, Matt wonders whether he has a new worry.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on October 16, 2005 at 05:52 AM in Science | Permalink
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» Evaluating election forecasts from Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science
Tyler Cowen links to Matt Yglesias linking to a quote from Frans De Waal, who's writing about a method of evaluating conversations using low-frequency voice patterns. Anyway, here's the relevant paragraph from De Waal: The same spectral analysis has be... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 16, 2005 1:30:43 PM
» Frans de Waal on low frequency audio as a social instrument from kottke.org remaindered links
http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/14/95637/699... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 18, 2005 4:52:41 PM
» Frans de Waal on low frequency audio as a social instrument from kottke.org remaindered links
http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/14/95637/699... [Read More]
Tracked on Oct 18, 2005 4:58:19 PM
