Why you should listen closely to how politicians modulate their voices

The way politicians speak varies depending on who they are talking to.
(Image credit: iStock)

Is the politician you're talking to speaking in a deep, impressive voice? He probably thinks you're rich or important. That's just one conclusion of a new study from researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine, which found that politicians modulate their voices depending on the social status of their audience.

When conversing casually, politicians will speak as if they are addressing family, but in front of large groups, their voices often take on a sing-song quality. And among people of high stature, whom they consider peers, politicos will opt for that lower tone.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.