Banai Benjamin, Laustsen Lasse, Banai Irena Pavela, Bovan Kosta
1 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
2 Department of Political Science, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus Universitet, Aarhus, Denmark.
Evol Psychol. 2018 Apr-Jun;16(2):1474704918758736. doi: 10.1177/1474704918758736.
Previous studies have shown that voters rely on sexually dimorphic traits that signal masculinity and dominance when they choose political leaders. For example, voters exert strong preferences for candidates with lower pitched voices because these candidates are perceived as stronger and more competent. Moreover, experimental studies demonstrate that conservative voters, more than liberals, prefer political candidates with traits that signal dominance, probably because conservatives are more likely to perceive the world as a threatening place and to be more attentive to dangerous and threatening contexts. In light of these findings, this study investigates whether country-level ideology influences the relationship between candidate voice pitch and electoral outcomes of real elections. Specifically, we collected voice pitch data for presidential and prime minister candidates, aggregate national ideology for the countries in which the candidates were nominated, and measures of electoral outcomes for 69 elections held across the world. In line with previous studies, we found that candidates with lower pitched voices received more votes and had greater likelihood of winning the elections. Furthermore, regression analysis revealed an interaction between candidate voice pitch, national ideology, and election type (presidential or parliamentary). That is, having a lower pitched voice was a particularly valuable asset for presidential candidates in conservative and right-leaning countries (in comparison to presidential candidates in liberal and left-leaning countries and parliamentary elections). We discuss the practical implications of these findings, and how they relate to existing research on candidates' voices, voting preferences, and democratic elections in general.
以往的研究表明，选民在选择政治领导人时会依赖那些体现男子气概和主导地位的性别差异特征。例如，选民对嗓音音调较低的候选人有强烈偏好，因为这些候选人被认为更强壮、更有能力。此外，实验研究表明，相较于自由派选民，保守派选民更倾向于选择具有主导特征的政治候选人，这可能是因为保守派更倾向于将世界视为一个充满威胁的地方，并且更关注危险和具有威胁性的环境。鉴于这些发现，本研究调查国家层面的意识形态是否会影响候选人嗓音音调与实际选举结果之间的关系。具体而言，我们收集了总统和总理候选人的嗓音音调数据、候选人被提名国家的总体国家意识形态，以及全球范围内举行的69次选举的选举结果衡量指标。与以往研究一致，我们发现嗓音音调较低的候选人获得了更多选票，赢得选举的可能性也更大。此外，回归分析揭示了候选人嗓音音调、国家意识形态和选举类型（总统选举或议会选举）之间的相互作用。也就是说，在保守和右倾国家，嗓音音调较低对总统候选人来说是一项特别有价值的资产（与自由和左倾国家的总统候选人以及议会选举相比）。我们讨论了这些发现的实际意义，以及它们与现有关于候选人嗓音、投票偏好和一般民主选举的研究之间的关系。
