We can tell from a person ’s roar whether they are bigger and stronger than us

By Emma Young Many animals, including sea lions and dogs, can accurately predict the size and strength of a potential adversary in part by listening to their vocalisations – such as the ferocity and depth of their barks or growls. People weren’t thought to be much good at doing something similar. But in previous studies, volunteers were asked to judge the absolute height and strength of another person, based on the sound of an aggressively-spoken sentence or a ‘roar’. Now in a new study, published in iScience, when participants were instead instructed to listen to recordings and judge how much stronger, or weaker, taller or shorter the vocaliser was, compared with themselves, they could do this with a high degree of accuracy. As the researchers, led by David Reby at the University of Sussex, point out, this is potentially far more practically useful than being able to discern someone else’s absolute height or strength. The researchers recorded 30 male and 31 female drama or acting students at the University of Sussex, who were instructed to imagine themselves in a battle or war scenario, about to charge and attack, and to utter “That’s enough, I’m coming for you!”, followed by a “non-verbal vocalisation” expressing the same motivation (these usually sounded like roars). The researchers then measured each student’s height and also their flexed bicep circumference and handgrip strength, which were used to produce a single strength score for each...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: evolutionary psych Source Type: blogs