Lower Your Pitch! Life Hack How to Improve Social Status and Find Your Love

© AP Photo / Julia NikhinsonMaryland Gov. Wes Moore whispers to wife, Dawn, during his inauguration, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, in Annapolis, Md.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore whispers to wife, Dawn, during his inauguration, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2023, in Annapolis, Md. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 11.02.2024
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If you're looking for a long-term relationship or want to improve your social status, a new study from US scientists can help you, without requiring much effort on your part. Just what you need before Valentine's Day.
American researchers studying the impact of vocal pitch on social perceptions discovered that a lower pitch in both women and men enhances their attractiveness to possible long-term partners.

"Vocal communication is one of the most important human characteristics, and pitch is the most perceptually noticeable aspect of voice," said David Puts, study co-author and professor of anthropology at Penn State, in an interview to Penn State University. "Understanding how voice pitch influences social perceptions can help us understand social relationships more broadly, how we attain social status, how we evaluate others on social status, and how we choose mates."

The researchers chose two male and two female voice recordings that were all repeating the same line in order to examine how voice pitch affects social perceptions. They separated the recordings into male-male and female-female pairings after editing the clips to create the average pitch for the speaker's sex as well as a higher-pitched and lower-pitched version of each voice, for a total of 12 clips.
After listening to the paired recordings, participants from 22 nations (covering five continents and New Zealand) were asked to rate which voice they thought was more appealing, flirty, formidable, or prestigious.
Winners of the L'Oreal-UNESCO Young Talent Prize for Women in Science Sabine Adeline Fanta Yadang, 32, (L) and Hadidjatou Daпrou, 33, (R) pose for a photograph at the Institute of Medical Research and Medicinal Plant Studies in Yaounde on November 23, 2023. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 11.02.2024
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When asked which voice they would prefer for a long-term relationship, such as marriage, the researchers discovered that both men and women favored lower-pitched voices. The research also found that a lower pitch in a man's voice made him perceived as more menacing, especially among younger men, and more prestigious, particularly among older men.
According to Puts, the fact that study participants from all cultural backgrounds believed that a lower male voice pitch was associated with formidability and high social standing indicates that our predecessors were also probably bestowed with these traits.
“The findings suggest that deep voices evolved in males because our male ancestors frequently interacted with competitors who were strangers, and they show how we can use evolutionary thinking and research from nonhuman animals to predict and understand how our psychology and behaviors vary across social contexts, including cross-culturally,” Puts said.
Furthermore, a lower pitch in males conveys a sense of being more fearsome and esteemed among other guys.
In addition, the scientists found out that males regarded girls with higher-pitched voices as more appealing for short-term relationships, whereas females evaluated higher pitches as conveying flirtatiousness and being more attractive to men.
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