Voice-Only Communication Enhances Empathic Accuracy

This research tests the prediction that voice-only communication increases empathic accuracy over communication across senses. We theorized that people often intentionally communicate their feelings and internal states through the voice, and as such, voice-only communication allows perceivers to foc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2017-10, Vol.72 (7), p.644-654
Main Author: Kraus, Michael W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Adult
Communication
Cues
Emotion recognition
Emotions
Empathy
Empathy - physiology
Female
Focused attention
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Intersensory Processes
Male
Organizational behavior
Perception
Perceptions
Social Interaction
Social Perception
Speech
Speech - physiology
Stranger Reactions
Strangers
Voice
Voice - physiology
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Summary:This research tests the prediction that voice-only communication increases empathic accuracy over communication across senses. We theorized that people often intentionally communicate their feelings and internal states through the voice, and as such, voice-only communication allows perceivers to focus their attention on the channel of communication most active and accurate in conveying emotions to others. We used 5 experiments to test this hypothesis (N = 1,772), finding that voice-only communication elicits higher rates of empathic accuracy relative to vision-only and multisense communication both while engaging in interactions and perceiving emotions in recorded interactions of strangers. Experiments 4 and 5 reveal that voice-only communication is particularly likely to enhance empathic accuracy through increasing focused attention on the linguistic and paralinguistic vocal cues that accompany speech. Overall, the studies question the primary role of the face in communication of emotion, and offer new insights for improving emotion recognition accuracy in social interactions.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/amp0000147