Can people recognize organizational status through vocal qualities alone?
When outsiders of an organization witness two people within the organization having an interaction, the outsider most likely will guess their status within the organization through the nonverbals that they observe including vocal qualities, clothing, visible signs of age, and hair color. It is a question of interest which of these channels provides the most reliable cues. This study focused on the vocal qualities in interactions and asked if people can accurately guess relative organizational status from a vocal recording alone and which vocal qualities convey an impression of authority. We hypothesized that lower frequency correlates to dominance, regardless of male or female, and that rate of speech will have a weak relationship to dominance. To test this hypothesis, we collected sound clips of colleagues and subordinates having a conversation. Results showed that the participants were very inaccurate in recognizing when one person worked for the other. They were, however, very accurate in recognizing when people were colleagues.
COMM 430, Nonverbal Communication
Doyle Srader
L203, poster #15
10 AM – Noon