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Perceived Masculinity Predicts U.S. Supreme Court Outcomes
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 10, p e0164324 (2016), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2016.
-
Abstract
- Previous studies suggest a significant role of language in the court room, yet none has identified a definitive correlation between vocal characteristics and court outcomes. This paper demonstrates that voice-based snap judgments based solely on the introductory sentence of lawyers arguing in front of the Supreme Court of the United States predict outcomes in the Court. In this study, participants rated the opening statement of male advocates arguing before the Supreme Court between 1998 and 2012 in terms of masculinity, attractiveness, confidence, intelligence, trustworthiness, and aggressiveness. We found significant correlation between vocal characteristics and court outcomes and the correlation is specific to perceived masculinity even when judgment of masculinity is based only on less than three seconds of exposure to a lawyer’s speech sample. Specifically, male advocates are more likely to win when they are perceived as less masculine. No other personality dimension predicts court outcomes. While this study does not aim to establish any causal connections, our findings suggest that vocal characteristics may be relevant in even as solemn a setting as the Supreme Court of the United States.
- Subjects :
- Male
Intelligence
Social Sciences
lcsh:Medicine
050109 social psychology
Surveys
Elections
Cognition
Psychology
050207 economics
Pitch Perception
lcsh:Science
B- ECONOMIE ET FINANCE
Language
media_common
Multidisciplinary
05 social sciences
16. Peace & justice
Research Design
Masculinity
Female
Personality dimension
Social psychology
Sentence
Research Article
Personality
Attractiveness
Political Science
media_common.quotation_subject
Decision Making
Opening statement
Sample (statistics)
Research and Analysis Methods
050105 experimental psychology
Judgment
Lawyers
0502 economics and business
Humans
Speech
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Behavior
Survey Research
lcsh:R
Cognitive Psychology
Biology and Life Sciences
Linguistics
United States
Supreme court
Trustworthiness
Cognitive Science
lcsh:Q
Neuroscience
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 15565068
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- SSRN Electronic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c7574ccd6ba51610b93818bc298e99af