What sounds beautiful is good: The vocal attractiveness stereotype

Facing a Dilemma: Cooperative Behavior and Beauty

“…In addition to the theories discussed above, the literature reports that physical and vocal attractiveness are highly correlated and thus suggests the existence of a vocal rather than a visual attractiveness stereotype (see, e.g., Zuckerman and Driver (1989)). Furthermore, physically attractive people are also assigned stronger verbal and social skills (e.g., Goldman and Lewis (1977) and Erwin and Calev (1984)).…”

“…Physically attractive people themselves do not behave differently than physically unattractive people. 3 Besides the theory of stereotyping based upon peoples' visual attractiveness, Zuckerman and Driver (1989) and Zuckerman, Hodgins, and Miyake (1990) proclaim the existence of a vocal attractiveness stereotype by showing that physical attractiveness is positively correlated with vocal attractiveness. Supporting a vocal-attractiveness mechanism, Mobius and Rosenblat (2006) find that the beauty premium even exists in treatments in which employers are able to talk to the employee without seeing the employee's picture.…”

Does talking the talk help walking the walk? An examination of the effect of vocal attractiveness in leader effectiveness

“…Vocally attractive people have been found to receive higher favorability ratings, among other valued outcomes (Zuckerman & Driver 1989). As previously stated, vocal attractiveness is defined as a voice that reveals confidence and lacks tension (Zuckerman & Driver 1989).…”

“…As previously stated, vocal attractiveness is defined as a voice that reveals confidence and lacks tension (Zuckerman & Driver 1989). It is a combination of specific vocal cues (pitch, pitch variability, amplitude variability, pauses, and speech rate) that combine to form a voice that results in favorable impressions on others (DeGroot & Motowidlo 1999).…”

“…Important vocal attributes include the back channel of auditory frequency and information as represented by pitch, sound frequency, and amplitude. We define vocal attractiveness as a voice that reveals confidence and lacks tension (Zuckerman & Driver 1989) and that results from a combination of specific vocal attributes (i.e., pitch, pitch variability, amplitude variability, pauses, and speech rate) that combine to form a voice that results in a favorable impression on others (DeGroot & Motowidlo 1999). We argue that a person's vocal attractiveness is a relevant aspect of the leader prototype.…”