Abstract
The benefits of minimizing the costs of engaging in violent conflict are thought to have shaped adaptations for the rapid assessment of others' capacity to inflict physical harm. Although studies have suggested that men's faces and voices both contain information about their threat potential, one recent study suggested that men's faces are a more valid cue of their threat potential than their voices are. Consequently, the current study investigated the interrelationships among a composite measure of men's actual threat potential (derived from the measures of their upper-body strength, height, and weight) and composite measures of these men's perceived facial and vocal threat potential (derived from dominance, strength, and weight ratings of their faces and voices, respectively). Although men's perceived facial and vocal threat potential were positively correlated, men's actual threat potential was related to their perceived facial, but not vocal, threat potential. These results present new evidence that men's faces may be a more valid cue of these aspects of threat potential than their voices are.
Highlights
The benefits of minimizing the costs of engaging in violent conflict are thought to have shaped adaptations for the rapid assessment of others’ capacity to inflict physical harm
principal component analysis (PCA) of the face and voice ratings each revealed a single perceived threat potential component. This result is consistent with previous research, suggesting that the impressions of men’s strength, dominance, and body size are positively intercorrelated (e.g., Holzleitner & Perrett, 2016)
Further analyses showed that men’s perceived facial threat potential was positively related to their scores on the actual threat potential component. This result is consistent with previous research, suggesting that men’s faces contain cues to their actual threat potential (Burton & Rule, 2013; Doll et al, 2014; Fink et al, 2007; Hill et al, 2013; Holzleitner & Perrett, 2016; Re et al, 2013; Sell et al, 2009; Windhager et al, 2011)
Summary
The benefits of minimizing the costs of engaging in violent conflict are thought to have shaped adaptations for the rapid assessment of others’ capacity to inflict physical harm. The current study investigated the interrelationships among a composite measure of men’s actual threat potential (derived from the measures of their upper-body strength, height, and weight) and composite measures of these men’s perceived facial and vocal threat potential (derived from dominance, strength, and weight ratings of their faces and voices, respectively). Strength ratings of men’s voices are positively correlated with the measures of their actual physical strength (Sell et al, 2010), and men’s voices have been shown to contain acoustic characteristics that are correlated with their strength, height, and/or weight (Hill et al, 2013; Hodges-Simeon, Gurven, Puts, & Gaulin, 2014; Pisanski et al, 2016; Puts, Apicella, & Cardenas, 2012). People can predict the winners of mixed martial arts fights from facial cues alone at levels greater than chance (Little, Trebicky, Havlıcek, Roberts, & Kleisner, 2015) Research reporting that men’s fighting ability can be assessed from their faces, but not their voices, suggests that faces may be a more valid cue of some aspects of men’s threat potential than their voices are (Doll et al, 2014)
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