Nobody likes to discover that their partner is cheating on them, but how do we react when infidelity is exposed on social media? And can you tell if someone is a cheater by their voice alone? I also speak with Dr. Evita March of Federation University, Australia, about her research on selfies and narcissism.

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Discovering Infidelity on Facebook
The Voice of a Cheater

Who knows what this couple are up to on their laptops? Probably just playing Solitaire... CGP Grey/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Dunn, M. J., & Billett, G. (in press). Jealousy levels in response to infidelity-revealing facebook messages depend on sex, type of message and message composer: Support for the evolutionary psychological perspective. Evolutionary Psychological Science. Read summary

Hughes, S. M., & Harrison, M. A. (2017). Your cheatin’ voice will tell on you: Detection of past infidelity from voice. Evolutionary Psychology, 15(2), 1474704917711513. Read summary

March, E., & McBean, T. (2017). Love looking at your self(ie)? The moderating effect of self-esteem on narcissism. Poster presented at the conference of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences, Warsaw.

In a belated attempt to understand the results of the recent US elections, we harness the power of attractiveness psychology (because polling doesn't seem to work). Do we vote for candidates based on their voices? Is our party political preference linked to our sexual behaviour? We find out in this month's show.

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Conservatives and Liberals: From the Polling Place to the Bedroom
Deeper Voiced Politicians Win More Elections

Is our preferred political party linked to our sexual behaviour? Theresa Thompson/Flickr

The articles covered in the show:

Hatemi, P. K., Crabtree, C., & McDermott, R. (2017). The relationship between sexual preferences and political orientations: Do positions in the bedroom affect positions in the ballot box? Personality and Individual Differences, 105, 318-325. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.10.008

Pavela Banai, I., Banai, B., & Bovan, K. (in press). Vocal characteristics of presidential candidates can predict the outcome of actual elections Evolution and Human Behavior. doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2016.10.012

How voices and faces win votes. I talk to Casey Klofstad about his new research into voice pitch and the effect it has on perceptions of a political candidate's age, strength, and competence. We'll also look at how other nonverbal cues, including facial appearance, influence election success.

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Would anyone vote for that face?

Are female political candidates more successful if they have deep voices? New research by Casey Klofstad shows that Margaret Thatcher may have been correct to lower her voice an octave or two.

The articles covered in the show:

Elmore, W., Vonnahame, E. M., Thompson, L., Filion, D., & Lundgren, J. D. (2015). Evaluating political candidates: Does weight matter? Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1(3), 287-297. Read summary

Klofstad, C. A., Anderson, C., & Nowicki, S. (2015). Perceptions of competence, strength, and age influence voters to select leaders with lower-pitched voices. PLoS One, 10(8), e0133779. Read paper

Laustsen, L., & Petersen, M. B. (in press). Winning faces vary by ideology: How nonverbal source cues influence election and communication success in politics. Political Communication. Read summary

Why Kim Kardashian would struggle finding a job outside showbiz, and how beauty is in the nose as well as the eye of the beholder. We also discover how male height impacts upon family size.

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Kanye must see something in Kim, but it's probably not her creaky, croaky voice: her "vocal fry".

The articles covered in the show:

Anderson, R. C., Klofstad, C. A., Mayew, W. J., & Venkatachalam, M. (2014). Vocal fry may undermine the success of young women in the labor market. PLoS One, 9(5), e97506. Read paper

Stulp, G., Mills, M., Pollet, T. V., & Barrett, L. (in press). Non-linear associations between stature and mate choice characteristics for American men and their spouses. American Journal of Human Biology. Read summary

Seubert, J., Gregory, K. M., Chamberland, J., Dessirier, J.-M., & Lundström, J. M. (2014). Odor valence linearly modulates attractiveness, but not age assessment, of invariant facial features in a memory-based rating task. PLoS One, 9(5), e98347. Read paper

An experiment that shows we really do like what we see. Also, how voices can cycle from attractive to unattractive and back again, and why you’re more likely to remember a fish if you see it next to an attractive man’s face. Yep, that's not a typo...

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According to research by Kevin Allan, you are unlikely to forget this fish.

The articles covered in the show:

Re, D. E., Coetzee, V., Xiao, D., Buls, D., Tiddeman, B. P., Boothroyd, L. G., et al. (2011). Viewing heavy bodies enhances preferences for facial adiposity. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(4), 295-308. Read summary

Allan, K., Jones, B. C., DeBruine, L. M., & Smith, D. S. (in press). Evidence of adaptation for mate choice within women's memory. Evolution and Human Behavior. Read summary

Pipitone, R. N., & Gallup, G. G. (in press). The unique impact of menstruation on the female voice: implications for the evolution of menstrual cycle cues. Ethology. Read summary

How a higher pitched voice can make you sound more attractive, and suspicious. Also, war: what is it good for? We investigate the link between warfare and sex. And how do our hormones influence perceptions of art?

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Georgia O'Keeffe's "Black Iris III". Rudski showed pictures by O'Keeffe to women when they were in the fertile and non-fertile phases of their menstrual cycle. 31% of fertile women interpreted the pictures as sexual, but only 9% of non-fertile women saw the sexual double-meaning (for the record, O'Keeffe herself always denied her art had sexual connotations. She would say that, though, wouldn't she?).

The articles covered in the show:

Fraccaro, P. J., Jones, B. C., Vukovic, J., Smith, F. G., Watkins, C. D., Feinberg, D. R., et al. (2011). Experimental evidence that women speak in a higher voice pitch to men they find attractive. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(1), 57-67. Read summary

O'Connor, J. J. M., Re, D. E., & Feinberg, D. R. (2011). Voice pitch influences perceptions of sexual infidelity. Evolutionary Psychology, 9(1), 64-78. Read paper

Chang, L., Lu, H. J., Li, H., & Li, T. (in press). The face that launched a thousand ships: The mating-warring association in men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Read summary

Rudski, J. M., Bernstein, L. R., & Mitchell, J. E. (in press). Effects of menstrual cycle phase on ratings of implicitly erotic art. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Read summary

In the first episode of the Psychology of Attractiveness Podcast we find out why women who are breastfeeding prefer a man with a higher pitched voice. Also, is this the real life, or is this just fantasy? How the appearance of your avatar in your favourite online game can affect your behaviour, even when you return to the real world. Plus, can we ignore facial beauty? We take a look at new research that shows nothing attracts attention like, well, attractiveness.

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The characteristics of the avatar you pick in World of Warcraft might rub off on your real-world personality.

You can also hear examples of the voices Apicella and Feinberg used in their study in their data supplement.

The articles covered in the show:

Apicella, C. L. & Feinberg, D. R. 2009 Voice pitch alters mate-choice-relevant perception in hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 276, 1077-1082. Read summary

Yee, N., Bailenson, J. N. & Ducheneaut, N. 2009 The Proteus effect: implications of transformed digital self-representation on online and offline behavior. Communication Research 36, 285-312. Read summary

Sui, J. & Liu, C. H. 2009 Can beauty be ignored? Effects of facial attractiveness on covert attention. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 16, 276-81. Read summary