There
are lots of studies showing that the frequency of our voice is important in how
others perceive us and how this trends towards assuming stereotypes, but how
much of our personalities are really revealed by the frequency of a speaker’s
voice? Is it cursory or does it give a deep insight?
Hu
et al in last weeks PLoS one uses
frequency analysis to try to correlate personality traits to the voice
frequency of replies to yes or no questions, which were answered truthfully or
falsely (1).
The
aim of the project was based on the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire that is intended
to identify the Big Five traits. This is known as the P-E-N system where E is a
measure of ones extravertedness, N is ones tendency to neurotic behavior, and the
P is our psychoticism or socialization.
Someone
with a low E and N rating would be calm and thoughtful; high N and low E –
moody and pessimistic; high E and low N – easy going and chatty; high E and N –
excitable and touchy.
The
experiments with 22 young men and 24 young women undergrads involved them
answering the personality questionnaire by chatting to the computer. They could
only say yes or no in Chinese, (that is shi or bushi in an anglicized script.)
They also had questions on a Social Desirability feature and this gave them the
biggest opportunity to lie.
Their voice frequency patterns were analyzed.
On balance there was more lying than truth telling going on. It was possible to
correlate a truthful yes frequency range with neuroticism and psychoticism and a
truthful no negatively correlated with extraversion. Neuroticism negatively
correlated with frequency in all responses.
Clearly
when we listen to our used car salesmen, our bankers or our politicians we need
to do more that just listen to what they are promising, we will need to ask
questions and analyze the frequency spectra of their replies. We need some
enterprising young person to build a smartphone app for this.
