Voice matters: Social categorization and stereotyping of speakers based on sexual orientation and nationality categories

• Author(s): Fasoli, F. ; Dragojevic, M. ; Rakić, T. ; Johnson, S.
• Date: 2023
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/30941
• Origin: Repositório ISCTE
• Subject(s): Voice; Social categorization; Stereotyping; Sexual orientation; Accent
• Document Type: Journal article
• Language: English

Description

This research examined how listeners categorize and stereotype speakers belonging to intersecting social categories (nationality; sexual orientation) based on voice alone. In Study 1, British heterosexuals categorized the nationality and sexual orientation of British and Italian speakers who self-identified as gay or heterosexual. Participants correctly categorized British speakers as co-nationals and Italian speakers as foreigners. Categorization accuracy of gay speakers’ sexual orientation was poor. Italian gay speakers were perceived as most likely to be gay and non-native speakers. Study 2 examined stereotyping of speakers who sounded either native or foreign, and sounded either gay or heterosexual. Foreign-accented (vs. native-accented) speakers were rated as less competent, and gay-sounding (vs. heterosexual-sounding) speakers as less gender typical. Foreign-accented gay speakers were perceived as the least competent and gender typical.