Date of Thesis

2016

Description

Using a multiple study format, the current research sought to examine how the combination of facial and vocal cues would affect assessments for short-term and long-term mating of Caucasian female faces of varying attractiveness levels. It was hypothesized for study 1 that a high-pitched voice would be matched with an attractive face and that a low pitched voice would be matched with an unattractive face. The results from study 1 were consistent with the hypothesis, finding that participants did match a high-pitched voice with an attractive female face and a low-pitched voice with an unattractive face. Study 2 sought to determine how combinations of neutral faces of varying attractiveness level and voice pitches would affect ratings of evolutionarily significant traits. It was hypothesized that when faces and voices were congruent that ratings would differ on a variety of traits as compared to when the faces and voices are incongruent (based off of results from study 1 of matching). The results indicated that the traits that were most affected by these combinations for both the attractive and unattractive face when being evaluated as both short and long-term mates were warmth, masculinity, femininity, nurturance, friendliness, and lovingness. Study 3 hypothesized that a smiling expression would alter the perceptions of traits from study 2. The hypotheses were only partially supported, finding some traits were impacted by expression type. These results suggest that people rely more on bimodal cues associated with facial attractiveness and vocal pitch more than cues that apparent from a smile.

Keywords

evolutionary theory, facial attractiveness, vocal attractiveness, sexual selection, facial expression

Access Type

Masters Thesis (Bucknell Access Only)

Degree Type

Master of Science

Major

Psychology

First Advisor

T. Joel Wade

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