Do emotions have distinct vocal profiles? A study of idiographic patterns of expression

Abstract

Research on vocal expressions of emotion indicates that persons can identify emotions from voice with relatively high accuracy rates. In addition, fairly consistent vocal profiles for specific emotions have been identified. However, important methodological issues remain to be addressed. In this paper, we address the issue of whether there are individual differences in the manner in which particular emotions may be expressed vocally and whether trained speakers’ portrayals of emotion are in some sense superior to untrained speakers’ portrayals. Consistent support was found for differences across speakers in the manner in which they expressed the same emotions. No accompanying relationship was found between differences in expression and accuracy of identification of those expressions. Little evidence for the superiority of trained speakers was found. Implications of these findings for future studies of vocal expressions of emotion, as well as our understanding of emotions in general, are discussed.

Keywords:

• Emotion
• Vocal expression
• Acoustic correlates
• Brunswikian Lens Model
• Individual differences

Notes

¹These data and profile plots are available from the first author upon request.