Looks and Sounds Like a Winner

Perceptions of Competence in Candidates’ Faces and Voices Influences Vote Choice

Datos Bibliográficos

ID13015797
AutoresCasey Klofstad (0000-0002-0223-2230, University of Miami, autor de correspondencia)
Año2017
Volumen4
Número3
Páginas229-240
Fecha de publicación2017-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Experimental Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 2052-2630 • E-ISSN: 2052-2649
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/xps.2017.19
OpenAlexW2766011119
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas11
Referencias citadas51

Voters are more likely to support candidates whose faces and voices are perceived as competent. However, what is the simultaneous influence of these two characteristics? Here this question is examined with an observational study and an experiment. In the observational study, subjects rated the facial competence of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The most and least competent faces identified were paired with recordings of competent (i.e., lower pitched) and incompetent (i.e., higher pitched) voices to create simulated candidates. For the experiment, a separate set of subjects voted between randomly generated pairs of these simulated candidates. The results show that candidates with competent faces or competent voices won more votes, but the influence of facial competence was nearly three times that of vocal competence

Cognitive psychology · Competence (human resources · Observational study · Perception · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Mathematics · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology