The angry voice: its effects on the experience of anger and cardiovascular reactivity

The results of two studies show that expressive vocal behavior, specifically, speech rate and loudness, influences the experience of anger and cardiovascular reactivity. In both studies, participants spoke about anger-arousing and neutral events using three different voice styles: fast and loud, slow and soft, and normal (personal rate and loudness level). In describing the anger-arousing events, both male and female participants reported feeling significantly more angry and showed significantly greater blood pressure and heart rate reactivity in the fast-loud compared with the normal speaking condition. They also reported feeling significantly less angry and showed significantly lower blood pressure reactivity in the slow-soft compared with the normal voice condition. For males only, the voice manipulation also had significant effects on the participants' anger self-ratings and cardiovascular responses during the neutral communications, but these effects were clearly weaker and less pervasive than those occurring during the angry communications. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for (1) the role of expressive vocal behavior in emotions, and (2) the modification of coronary-prone behavior.