Low-voiced men love ’em and leave ’em, yet still attract more women: study

Low-voiced men have an edge in attracting women, even though women know they’re unlikely to stick around long, according to researchers.

The scientists found in a study that women were more attracted to men with masculine voices, at least for short-term relationships. Those men were also seen as more likely to cheat and unsuitable for a longer relat­ionship and marriage.

The study, published online in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, offers insight into the evolu­tion of the voice and how we choose our mates, there searchers said.

“The sound of some one’s voice can affect how we think of them,” explained lead author Jil lian O’ Connor, a post doctoral fellow at McMaster University in Canada. “Until now, it’s been unclear why women would like the voices of men who might cheat. But we found that the more women thought these men would cheat, the more they were attracted to them for a brief relationship when they are less worried about fidelity.”

For the study, 87 women listened to men’s voices that were manipulated electronically to sound high er or low­er, and then chose who they thought was more likely to cheat on their romantic partner.

Researchers also asked the participants to choose the voice they thought was more attractive for a long-term versus a short-term relationship.

“From an evolutionary perspective, these perceptions of future sexual infidelity may be adaptive,” that is, they may have been useful for human an cestors whose reproductive behavior shaped our species, said Mc Mas ter’s David Fein berg, who collaborated with O’ Con nor.

“The consequences of infidelity are very high whether it is emotional or financial and this research sug gests that humans have evolved as a protection mechanism to avoid long-term partners who may cheat,” he said.


Courtesy of McMaster University
and World Science staff