Evolutionary psychologists tell us that it is in the best interests of human females to disguise their fertility over their menstrual cycles. Not only does this help prevent unwanted attention from unacceptable males, but it keeps the male partner “guessing” about her fertility status and more likely to stay close at times when she is less fertile. Nonetheless, it appears that women do exhibit subtle signals of fertility.
In the most recent entry into the “fertility” signal discussion, Nathan Pipitone and Gordon Gallup demonstrate that both males and females judge women’s voices as more attractive when they are near ovulation [1]. Okay, we’re not talking about whispering sweet nothings here, because Pipitone and Gallup recorded the women counting from one to ten. Woo hoo. Recordings were taken at four different times during a woman’s menstrual cycle, then played for male and female participants. Women on oral contraceptives, of course, did not show any variations in vocal attractiveness across their cycles.
The fact that men can pick up on a subtle indicator of female fertility is not too surprising, but why would women themselves perceive these differences? The authors suggest that women might do this in order to keep tabs on the competition.
Voice is not the only variable that contains fertility information. Martie Haselton and her colleagues demonstrated that women dress “more attractively” at fertile points in their cycle [2]. In arguably one of the oddest experiments of this type (and one where it would be interesting to sit in on the IRB ethics discussion), lap-dancers were found to make the most tips at the fertile phase of their cycles [3]. Once again, women using oral contraception showed no cyclic patterns in tips.
1. Pipitone, R.N., & Gallup, G.G., Jr. (in press). Women’s voice attractiveness varies across the menstrual cycle. Evolution and Human Behavior.
2. Haselton, M. G., Mortezaie, M., Pillsworth, E. G., Bleske-Recheck, A. E., & Frederick, D. A. (2007). Ovulation and human female ornamentation: Near ovulation, women dress to impress. Hormones and Behavior, 51, 40-45.
3. Miller, G., Tybur, J.M, & Jordan, B.D. (2007). Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earnings by lap dancers: Economic evidence for human estrus? Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(6), 375-381.
4 Comments
mbernie · May 5, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I learned about both the skimpier outfits and the change in voice during fertility in my anthropology class. The skimpier outfits was shown in a video by “love researcher” Desmond Morris and the change in voice was shown by a similar experiment by, I believe, a San Diego State student.
It makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, men will hear the women’s voice being more attractive thus having him want the women more which would further push procreation. The skimpier outfits seem to happen unconsciously during fertilization yet the women dress themselves which is odd to me. The voice change seems to happen from biology but the skimpier outfits seem to come from the mind or something else. Unconsciously it seems that women are also trying to create procreation in very subtle but lucrative ways.
knphilli · May 7, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I find it very interesting that women tend to dress differently during ovulation. I had learned about the voice change in a previous class, but nothing was said about dress. I agree that the voice change seems to be related to biology but I dont understand how biology could effect the dress. I guess even though women try to hide their fertility, the role that biology plays cannot be hidden.
jmgraham · May 11, 2008 at 12:50 pm
It is fascinating to me that something can trigger in women’s minds that affects not only the way they speak, but the way they dress. While we may do these things on purpose on a date or when we’re with someone we are interested in, it’s amazing that our instinct has us make these changes while we are ovulating. I too had heard that dress changes to shorter skirts and lower tops at this time. However, the voice change seems more remarkable to me because it is something that I imagine wouldn’t even notice ourselves doing whereas we can maybe realize a change in dress. Our bodies are just downright amazing : )
sjthomps · May 13, 2008 at 11:44 pm
i think it is so cool and fascinating that a small change in chemical hormones is able to change the tone of a woman’s voice! I find it funny that she cannot personally hear the difference but everyone else is able to even thought they do not know it! it seems like good information, because with this information, ovulation may be a great time to date! i find it dissapionting that it does not apply to women on birth control because i really wanted to experiment with it!
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