Only Cheap Talk after All? New Experimental Psychological Findings on the Role of Verbal Proficiency in Mate Choice

• Authors: Benjamin P. Lange , Christine Hennighausen , Michael Brill , Frank Schwab
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Recent evolutionary experimental psychological research found that high verbal proficiency (VP) increased the perceived attractiveness of individuals (more so for males than females), especially in the context of a long-term relationship. Our study had the objective of replicating and extending this research. Similar to previous studies, audio files in which speakers performed scripted self-presentations that had equal content but varied on VP were used as stimuli for opposite-sex participants. VP was found to increase attractiveness ratings. The effects were mostly small for numerous variables relating to short-term mating, whereas they were moderate to large for long-term mating. Our participants attributed more future income, but not more total number of mates to speakers with higher VP. Female menstrual cycle effects on attractiveness ratings were not found. Contrary to former research, being more verbally proficient was not found to be more beneficial for one sex over the other.

Keywords

EN

attractiveness; evolutionary psychology; mate choice; sexual selection; verbal proficiency

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Psychology of Language and Communication
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-22

Dates

published

2016-10-01

online

2016-10-27

Contributors

author

Benjamin P. Lange

• Media Psychology, Julius Maximilian, University of Würzburg, Campus Hubland Nord, Oswald-Kulpe-Weg 82, D-97074, Würzburg,

author

Christine Hennighausen

• Julius Maximilian, University of Würzburg,

author

Michael Brill

• Julius Maximilian, University of Würzburg,

author

Frank Schwab

• Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg,

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/plc-2016-0001