Leongómez Juan David, Mileva Viktoria R, Little Anthony C, Roberts S Craig
Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2017 Jun 14;12(6):e0179407. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179407. eCollection 2017.
Non-verbal behaviours, including voice characteristics during speech, are an important way to communicate social status. Research suggests that individuals can obtain high social status through dominance (using force and intimidation) or through prestige (by being knowledgeable and skilful). However, little is known regarding differences in the vocal behaviour of men and women in response to dominant and prestigious individuals. Here, we tested within-subject differences in vocal parameters of interviewees during simulated job interviews with dominant, prestigious, and neutral employers (targets), while responding to questions which were classified as introductory, personal, and interpersonal. We found that vocal modulations were apparent between responses to the neutral and high-status targets, with participants, especially those who perceived themselves as low in dominance, increasing fundamental frequency (F0) in response to the dominant and prestigious targets relative to the neutral target. Self-perceived prestige, however, was less related to contextual vocal modulations than self-perceived dominance. Finally, we found that differences in the context of the interview questions participants were asked to respond to (introductory, personal, interpersonal), also affected their vocal parameters, being more prominent in responses to personal and interpersonal questions. Overall, our results suggest that people adjust their vocal parameters according to the perceived social status of the listener as well as their own self-perceived social status.
非言语行为，包括说话时的声音特征，是传达社会地位的重要方式。研究表明，个体可以通过支配地位（使用武力和恐吓）或威望（凭借知识渊博和技艺娴熟）获得较高的社会地位。然而，关于男性和女性在面对具有支配力和威望的个体时声音行为的差异，我们知之甚少。在此，我们在模拟求职面试中测试了受访者在面对具有支配力、威望和中立的雇主（目标对象）时声音参数的个体内部差异，同时让受访者回答被归类为介绍性、个人性和人际性的问题。我们发现，在对中立目标对象和高地位目标对象的回答之间，声音调制很明显，参与者（尤其是那些认为自己支配力较低的人）相对于中立目标对象，在回答具有支配力和威望的目标对象时会提高基频（F0）。然而，自我感知的威望与情境声音调制的关联不如自我感知的支配力。最后，我们发现，参与者被要求回答的面试问题情境（介绍性、个人性、人际性）的差异也会影响他们的声音参数，在回答个人性和人际性问题时更为突出。总体而言，我们的结果表明，人们会根据听众的感知社会地位以及自己的自我感知社会地位来调整声音参数。
