The Role of Face and Voice Cues in Predicting the Outcome of Student Representative Elections

Abstract

First impressions formed after seeing someone’s face or hearing their voice can affect many social decisions, including voting in political elections. Despite the many studies investigating the independent contribution of face and voice cues to electoral success, their integration is still not well understood. Here, we examine a novel electoral context, student representative ballots, allowing us to test the generalizability of previous studies. We also examine the independent contributions of visual, auditory, and audiovisual information to social judgments of the candidates, and their relationship to election outcomes. Results showed that perceived trustworthiness was the only trait significantly related to election success. These findings contrast with previous reports on the importance of perceived competence using audio or visual cues only in the context of national political elections. The present study highlights the role of real-world context and emphasizes the importance of using ecologically valid stimulus presentation in understanding real-life social judgment.

Trait evaluations of faces and voices: Comparing within- and between-person variability.

“…Such snap judgements can often be made within milliseconds, but are nonetheless known to affect our behaviours, attitudes and decisions (Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006;McAleer et al, 2014;Willis & Todorov, 2006). Most importantly, this is true in a range of situations, even when we have access to additional and more relevant information -from choosing who to vote for in the upcoming elections, to deciding the length and severity of court sentences, or the Airbnb host we decide to stay with (Chen, Halberstam, & Yu, 2016;Ert, Fleischer, & Magen, 2016;Klofstad, 2016;Mileva et al, 2020;Sussman, Petkova, & Todorov, 2013;Tigue, Borka, O'Connor, Schandl & Feinberg, 2012;Wilson & Rule, 2015).…”

How does familiarity with a voice affect trait judgements?

“…This suggests that they reflect general, stereotyped aspects of person perception (McAleer, et al ., 2014; Todorov, Said, Engell, Oosterhof, 2008). Even though first impressions tend to not be accurate, they are important because they have been shown to predict behaviour and influence decision‐making (see Olivola, Funk, & Todorov, 2014, for a review) in a number of different contexts, such as election outcomes (Ballew & Todorov, 2007; Klofstad, 2016; Klofstad, Anderson, & Peters, 2012; Mileva, Tompkinson, Watt, & Burton, 2020; Sussman, Petkova, & Todorov, 2013; Todorov, Mandisodza, Goren, & Hall, 2005), applicant success at job interviews (see Harris & Garris, 2008, for a review), and court sentencing (Wilson & Rule, 2015; Zebrowitz & McDonald, 1991).…”

Trait evaluations of faces and voices: Comparing within- and between-person variability

“…In sum, our series of experiments further highlight the importance of within-person variability for understanding both face and voice perception. Although humans appear to treat impressions of the social traits of others as proxies for evaluations of stable personality characteristics (Chen et al 2016;Ert et al, 2016;Klofstad, 2016;Mileva et al, 2020;Sussman et al, 2013;Wilson & Rule, 2015), we show that transient changes in the physical properties of faces and voices lead to concomitant changes in social trait evaluations. Thus, we consistently observed that within-person variability in trait evaluations is at least on par with the between-person variability.…”

“…Such snap judgements can often be made within milliseconds, but are nonetheless known to affect our behaviours, attitudes and decisions (Bar, Neta, & Linz, 2006;McAleer et al, 2014;Willis & Todorov, 2006). Most importantly, this is true in a range of situations, even when we have access to additional and more relevant information -from choosing who to vote for in the upcoming elections, to deciding the length and severity of court sentences or the Airbnb host we decide to stay with (Chen, Halberstam, & Yu, 2016;Ert, Fleischer, & Magen, 2016;Klofstad, 2016;Mileva et al, 2020;Sussman, Petkova, & Todorov, 2013;Tigue, Borka, O'Connor, Schandl & Feinberg, 2012;Wilson & Rule, 2015). Despite their impact on many aspects of our lives, such social trait evaluations are unlikely to be firmly grounded in truth, and the evidence for their accuracy is limited (Klofstad & Anderson, 2018;Todorov, 2017).…”