How does familiarity with a voice affect trait judgements

Bibliographic Data

ID5269700
AuthorsNadine Lavan (0000-0001-7569-0817, Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences University College London UK, corresponding author), Mila Mileva (0000-0003-0537-9702, Department of Psychology University of York UK), Carolyn Mcgettigan (0000-0001-6293-3795, Department of Speech, Hearing and Phonetic Sciences University College London UK, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume112
Issue1
Pages282-300
Publication date2021-02-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1269 • E-ISSN: 2044-8295
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/bjop.12454
PMID32445499
OpenAlexW3021286165
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited42

From only a single spoken word, listeners can form a wealth of first impressions of a person's character traits and personality based on their voice. However, due to the substantial within-person variability in voices, these trait judgements are likely to be highly stimulus-dependent for unfamiliar voices: The same person may sound very trustworthy in one recording but less trustworthy in another. How trait judgements differ when listeners are familiar with a voice is unclear: Are listeners who are familiar with the voices as susceptible to the effects of within-person variability? Does the semantic knowledge listeners have about a familiar person influence their judgements? In the current study, we tested the effect of familiarity on listeners' trait judgements from variable voices across 3 experiments. Using a between-subjects design, we contrasted trait judgements by listeners who were familiar with a set of voices - either through laboratory-based training or through watching a TV show - with listeners who were unfamiliar with the voices. We predicted that familiarity with the voices would reduce variability in trait judgements for variable voice recordings from the same identity (cf. Mileva, Kramer & Burton, Perception, 48, 471 and 2019, for faces). However, across the 3 studies and two types of measures to assess variability, we found no compelling evidence to suggest that trait impressions were systematically affected by familiarity

Affect (linguistics) · Cognitive psychology · Impression formation · Perception · Set (abstract data type) · Social perception · Stimulus (psychology) · Trait · Trustworthiness · Communication · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology

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