Sexual orientation is given by vowels
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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We often base our opinion on the person on how he speaks. Not always these hasty judgments turn out to be incorrect, even if they are based on only one syllable, psychologists from the University of Ohio (USA) say.
"This is a common, everyday phenomenon," says study author Eric Tracy. - We constantly talk on the phone with people who do not know, and only from this communication we form an opinion on the personal characteristics of the interlocutor - about his field, age, race and sexual orientation. " It's all clear, but what exactly allows us to make such decisions? Mr. Tracy decided not to smear and focus on sexual orientation, the more so as previous studies showed: we need one monosyllable word to understand this issue.
In a series of experiments, Mr. Tracy and his colleagues Nicholas Satariano attended seven gay men and seven heterosexual men who spoke a few such words. The listeners offered that whole word, then the first two sounds, then the first consonant. One consonant was not enough, and the first two sounds (not even words!) - quite enough to guess the sexual orientation with 75 percent accuracy. "We believe that the vowel became the bearer of the meaning," emphasizes Mr. Tracy.
"I do not know what exactly listeners notice in this vowel", - adds the scientist.
The results of the study will be presented at the Acoustic Society of America conference.
By the way, Jose Benki from the University of Michigan (USA) and his colleagues (already to another conference) have scientifically proved that a measured speech (about three and a half words per second) seems most compelling to the interlocutor. If you talk faster, he will think that you are blinding, if slowly, he will find you a boring pedant. Do not try to make the speech alive and bright, by varying the intonation, it will only make the listener more difficult. If you are aiming for the ideal, learn frequent short pauses (four to five times per minute): this is how boas explain the device of the universe to rabbits. If the pauses are a little more - not scary, it is still perceived better than fluent speech.
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