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The voice can indicate when someone finds us attractive

The voice can indicate when someone finds us attractive

March 29, 2024

There are several investigations that indicate the way in which we communicate nonverbally (and involuntarily) when someone attracts us. For example, exposing the neck or the inside of the arms indicates interest, while crossing the arms, no.

However, not all of these discrete signals have to do with the position we adopt or with the gestures of the face. According to an investigation, there is also something else that gives us away. It is about the voice, something that we use constantly during the flirting, whenever we dare to say something to that person that catches our attention.

  • Related article: "The 6 signs that show physical attraction towards another person"

The voice and its link to sexual attraction

There are many ways to explain what is the logic behind our tastes when it comes to finding a partner, and one of the most talked about in psychology is part of Evolutionary Psychology.


This perspective focuses on the way in which evolution has shaped the genetics that most human beings share and the way in which it influences how we behave. Reproductive behavior, in particular, receives a lot of attention by these researchers, since the strategies we use to find a partner and procreate have direct effects on the genes.

In the case of the voice, it is believed that one of the reasons why men's is more serious is because the genes that are behind this feature have been selected more often in the reproductive strategies of women. That is in men the serious voice is attractive and for that reason those that own it are more likely to have offspring (perhaps because this kind of sounds are associated with large and, consequently, strong animals). In the case of women, the opposite occurs: in general, those with the sharpest voice are more attractive.


On the other hand, there are also data that indicate a curious phenomenon: people with a more active sex life have voices that are more attractive. In this research, several volunteers of both sexes they should rate the degree to which they felt attraction for voices that had been recorded in sound recordings. Using this information and crossing it with the reports on the sexual life of the people who gave their voice to the experiment, this strange pattern of behavior was detected.

  • Maybe you're interested: "The power of looking at each other's eyes: playing with the laws of attraction"

Adjusting our voice to others

We have already seen that the voice is related to sexual preferences, but ... how does it influence the flirting once it has started? It is a pertinent question, since the voice does not only serve to influence the value of the attractiveness of potential couples; In addition, we usually use it to please others more, even if we do not realize it. And that can be used to detect sexual or romantic interest that someone can express to us.


The key is to look at the way in which our interlocutor adapts his voice so that it resembles ours. This phenomenon, called phonetic convergence , it happens unconsciously almost always when we talk to someone who attracts us.

Both the rhythm of the speech and the intonation and the tone are modified to emulate that of the other person, so that she feels comfortable in the conversation when feeling "in her comfort zone". On the other hand, the opposite occurs when we talk to someone we do not like: we emphasize the properties of our voice that do not resemble those of the other person.

In addition, this tendency to modify our way of speaking occurs on a small scale during the first few minutes we talk to someone, but it also continues days and even weeks later. For example, an investigation found that months after moving in together for the first time, several roommates tended to talk in a much more similar way than they had during their first day together. In addition, the degree to which their voices adapted to those of others correlated with the degree to which each felt close to the other.

Part of the chameleon effect

The phonetic convergence can be understood as part of the chameleon effect, a tendency by which everything our non-verbal language is adapted to that of the interlocutor , unconsciously, usually when there is a climate of attraction or emotional closeness (or you want to reach it).

For example, some salespeople pay attention to the positions of their potential clients and imitate them, or they try to make the speed they speak closer to that of the other person.

  • Related article: "Chameleon effect: when we imitate the other without realizing it"

conclusion

So, to know if you like someone, always you can pay attention to the way in which your way of speaking evolves during the first minutes of conversation. On the other hand, if that person interests you, you can also try to voluntarily modify your way of expressing yourself so that the rhythms and sounds that make up your voice are mimicked by this one.

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