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J Nonverbal Behav (2013) 37:123138 DOI 10.1007/s10919-013-0151-3
ORIGINAL PAPER
Sally D. Farley Susan M. Hughes Jack N. LaFayette
Published online: 6 April 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract Research has documented the tendency for individuals to change their voices as a function of different emotional and motivational states, but little attention has been devoted to examining voice modulation in romantic relationships. The present research was conducted to determine (1) the way in which individuals alter their voices when speaking to romantic partners versus friends and (2) if independent raters perceive these differences. Independent raters (N = 80) listened to vocal clips obtained from telephone calls directed toward close same-sex friends and romantic partners. For several clips, raters were able to identify conversational partner (romantic versus friend) with greater than chance accuracy, and this accuracy was positively correlated with vocal pitch and perceived romantic interest. In addition, raters who listened to content-ltered clips judged callers less favorably when talking to their romantic partners than their friends. Results are interpreted in light of the longing but vulnerable condition of intense romantic love, and integrated into affection exchange theory and communication accommodation theory.
Keywords Voice Affect expression Romantic love Vocal accommodation theory
Paralanguage
Introduction
As social animals, we are intuitively attuned to the emotional states of those who surround us. Many have argued for the importance of vocalic cues for the expression of our
S. D. Farley (&)
Division of Applied Behavioral Sciences, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA e-mail: [email protected]
S. M. Hughes
Department of Psychology, Albright College, 13th and Bern Streets, Reading, PA 19612, USA e-mail: [email protected]
J. N. LaFayette
Institutional Research, Albright College, 13th and Bern Streets, Reading, PA 19612, USA e-mail: [email protected]
People Will Know We Are in Love: Evidence of Differences Between Vocal Samples Directed Toward Lovers and Friends
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emotional states (Burgoon et al. 2010; Scherer 1986, 2003). In relational communication, our ability to correctly differentiate between angry, fearful, or elated tones of voice is essential to relational harmony and stability. For example, research has linked accurate vocal nonverbal communication to measures of marital satisfaction (Noller 1980). A number of ndings are consistent with the notion that our voices evolved as effective communication...