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Project Title: Forming First Impressions from Voices
Summary: When we hear a person speak, we quickly form an initial impression of their characteristics. While these impressions may be brief, they significantly shape our actions and influence decisions such as who we choose to rent a property to (Purnell et al., 1999), or vote for in an election (Mileva et al., 2020). These impressions are also flexible in nature, in which they are shaped by the perceiver, the task, and the type of stimulus (Lavan & Sutherland, 2024). Although research has explored how listeners form impressions from healthy adult voices, the role of preconceived beliefs in shaping one’s perceptual judgments of a voice remains unclear. Specifically, impressions are argued to be influenced by listeners' beliefs about how social traits combine to form an overall impression of a speaker (Stolier et al., 2018). However, no attempts have been made to explore the relevance of such preconceived beliefs on the perceptual judgements of voices. This research aims to determine whether preconceived beliefs influence first impressions of voices, enhancing our understanding of how we process information about those we interact with. Additionally, the project will provide insight about whether voice impressions are fixed and depend on the type of voice being heard.
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