Journal article
Pitch Perfect: Vocal Pitch and the Emotional Intensity of Congressional Speech
The American political science review, Vol.113(4), pp.941-962
11/2019
DOI: 10.1017/S0003055419000467
Abstract
Although audio archives are available for a number of political institutions, the data they provide receive scant attention from researchers. Yet, audio data offer important insights, including information about speakers’ emotional states. Using one of the largest collections of natural audio ever compiled—74,158 Congressional floor speeches—we introduce a novel measure of legislators’ emotional intensity: small changes in vocal pitch that are difficult for speakers to control. Applying our measure to MCs’ floor speeches about women, we show that female MCs speak with greater emotional intensity when talking about women as compared with both their male colleagues and their speech on other topics. Our two supplementary analyses suggest that increased vocal pitch is consistent with legislators’ broader issue commitments, and that emotionally intense speech may affect other lawmakers’ behavior. More generally, by demonstrating the utility of audio-as-data approaches, our work highlights a new way of studying political speech.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Pitch Perfect: Vocal Pitch and the Emotional Intensity of Congressional Speech
- Creators
- Bryce Dietrich - University of IowaMatthew Hayes - Rice UniversityDiana Z O'Brien - Rice University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The American political science review, Vol.113(4), pp.941-962
- DOI
- 10.1017/S0003055419000467
- ISSN
- 0003-0554
- eISSN
- 1537-5943
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press; New York, USA
- Number of pages
- 22
- Alternative title
- Vocal Pitch and the Emotional Intensity of Speech
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/2019
- Academic Unit
- Political Science
- Record Identifier
- 9983982716302771
Metrics
156 Record Views