Republicans prefer politicians with deep voices 共和党选民更青睐声音低沉的政治家 作者：Aarhus University @ 2015-11-24

译者：Luis Rightcon(@Rightcon)

校对：沈沉（@你在何地-sxy）

来源：EurekAlert， http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/au-rpp112415.php A deep voice and a square jaw are important assets for conservative politicians. For politicians on the liberal side, it's more important to have gentle features. That's the conclusion of two recent scientific articles from Aarhus University. The implication is not only that physical features have a larger impact on voter preferences than previously thought but also that different physical features appeal to different voter segments.

拥有低沉嗓音和方形下巴对于保守派政客而言是非常重要的资产。而对于自由派政客，拥有相对柔和的特性则更为重要。这是最近两篇出自奥尔胡斯大学的科学论文所得出的结论，这两篇文章不仅表明身体特征对选民倾向的影响比以前所认为的要更大，而且指出不同的身体特征会吸引不同的选民群体。

The results run counter to the ideal that voters in democratic societies make their decisions after carefully weighing the pros and cons of the political programs put forward by the various parties, according to Lasse Laustsen and Michael Bang Petersen from the university's Department of Political Science, who carried out the research.

这项研究是由奥尔胡斯大学政治科学系的Lasse Laustsen和Michael Bang Petersen做的，研究所得出的结果与那种认为民主社会选民会在仔细权衡各政党所推行的政治纲领的利弊之后再做出选择的设想恰好背道而驰。

"A deep tone of voice appeals to conservative voters. More generally, conservative voters seem to have a preference for politicians who look physically strong and masculine, while liberal voters prefer those who have less dominant features and seem more accommodating, perhaps even slightly feminine," said Laustsen.

Laustsen指出：“低沉的嗓音会吸引保守派选民。更一般的来说，保守派选民似乎倾向于外表看上去更强壮，更阳刚的政客，而自由派选民则更喜欢不那么强势而且更随和，甚至可能有点轻微女性化的政客。”

The new studies form an example of how political scientists can achieve a deeper understanding of political behavior by using a broader variety of research tools. The approach is increasingly adopted by political scientists all over the world, including John Hibbing, a professor of political science at University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

这一使用多种研究工具的新研究为政治学家树立了深入理解政治行为的典范。全世界的政治学家正在逐步采用这种研究方式，内布拉斯加－林肯大学政治学教授John Hibbing就是其中之一。

"It's a fairly limited niche, but it's growing. What Laustsen and Petersen do is both exciting and important. Some people may be uncomfortable knowing that our preferences are determined by forces that we don't entirely understand. But of course, as scientists we still have to deal with it," said Hibbing, who didn't take part in the Laustsen and Petersen's research.

“这是个相当有限的细分领域，但是在不断发展壮大。Laustsen和Petersen的工作既令人兴奋又非常重要。我们的（政治）倾向被我们没有完全理解的力量所决定，这一点会令许多人感到不舒服。但是我们作为科学家当然还是要应对它。”Hibbing说。Hibbing本人没有参与Laustsen和Petersen的研究。

One of the articles is based on data from US politics and demonstrates that Republican voters are more likely than voters from the Democratic camp to vote for politicians with deep voices. To understand why this is, you have to dig a little deeper, according to Laustsen. Republican voters prefer strong politicians - or politicians whose deep voices make them sound like they are strong - because they believe the world is a more dangerous and menacing place than Democratic voters, he said.

其中一篇论文基于美国政治的数据，证明了共和党选民较之民主党阵营选民更倾向于选择嗓音低沉的政客。在Laustsen看来，要理解其中原因，需要进一步挖掘这项事实。他认为共和党选民倾向于身体强壮的政客，或者嗓音低沉的政客——嗓音低沉使得他们听起来比较强壮——是因为共和党选民相信真实世界要比民主党选民所认为的更加险恶。

"If you hold up images of objects that people consider dangerous or unpleasant, for example of large spiders, and then measure the production of sweat from people's fingertips (skin conductance response), you get an indication of spontaneous physical reaction. In these cases, conservative voters react more strongly than liberal ones. This could indicate a large visceral difference in the way these voter groups perceive the world," Laustsen said.

Laustsen说：“如果你举起人们觉得危险或者令人不适的物体图片，比如说巨型蜘蛛，然后测试观察者指尖的出汗量（皮电反应），你会看到身体自发的应激反应。在这类试验中，保守派选民比自由派选民的反应更为激烈。这可能表明这些选民群体在认知世界的层面上有着很大的本能上的差别。”

Laustsen and Petersen's research proceeds from the observations that in order to understand the behavior of modern humans, you need to look into the evolutionary history that has shaped the psychology producing this behavior.

为了理解现代人类的行为，必须从产生行为的心理着手，而人类的进化史塑造了自身的心理。基于这样的看法，Laustsen和Petersen的研究就由此入手。

In prehistoric times when the ancestors of modern humans were roaming the East-African savannah in small groups, it made sense to support the strongest members of the tribe when confronted with danger. Psychological mechanisms which 30,000 years ago saved our ancestors from being devoured by saber-toothed tigers and other fierce animals continue to be at work today, explaining, among other things, why people vote as they do along the left-right continuum.

史前时代，现代人类的祖先组成许多小群体漫游在东非稀树大草原上。这样，在遇上危险时支持群体里的最强壮者就显得尤为重要。三万年前的心理机制保护了我们的祖先不被剑齿虎和许多其他猛兽吞噬殆尽，而同样的心理机制至今仍在发挥作用。这就能解释许多事情，包括为什么人类在投票时（所表现出的政治倾向）会沿从左到右的光谱排列。

"There are evolutionarily important reasons for the structure of our psychology. Our ancestors had to make a decision about which leader to follow, and it was crucial for their survival and reproduction that they picked the right one. As a species we are pre-programmed to think in a certain way about who we would like to be in charge. This affects choices that we make even today," said Petersen.

“我们的心理结构是具有进化意义上的重大缘由的。我们祖先必须就领袖人选作出抉择，选择正确的人选对于他们的生存和繁衍极其重要。作为一个物种，我们被预先设定好以某种特定方式来考虑谁才是我们中意的领导者。这甚至一直在影响今天我们所作出的决定。”Petersen说。

Is this knowledge useful for the politicians? For example, would it be helpful for conservative politicians to tone down their dominant, masculine personality traits in hopes of snatching voters further to the left who tend to find less dominant features more attractive?

这项知识对政客有用吗？举例来说，保守派政客是否可以通过软化他们的强势个性特征来吸引更加左翼、更加青睐没有太多强势特征的人选的选民？

"Democrats are often seen as empathic, compassionate types. Republicans, by contrast, are often considered as strong leaders with a moral compass. This kind of subjective views may have real importance in cases where a Republican candidate is seen as more empathic than his Democratic opponent and trespasses into his territory. Perhaps he can gain some votes there," he said.

Petersen指出：“民主党人往往被视为富于同情怜悯的类型。与之相对，共和党人往往被认为是具有道德模范特性的强大领袖。这样的主观印象也许会在某些场合发挥重大作用，比如在一个共和党候选人比他的民主党对手显得更具有同情心，侵入了后者的基本盘的情况下，这位共和党候选人将会挣来一些（偏左翼的）选票。”

Can the voters use these new insights for anything? It's always better to be aware of what causes you to have the preferences you have. But the roots of our likes and dislikes are buried so deep in the subconscious that the two authors doubt there is very much to do about them.

选民们能通过这些新洞见干些什么呢？了解到你的倾向由何而来当然是很不错的。但是我们喜恶的根源是如此深埋在潜意识中，以至于两位作者不觉得我们能在此有什么作为。

"We can't necessarily do very much to control this. Some American research indicates that participants in lab tests are able to determine which of two unknown candidates they like more after having been exposed to images of them for less than 0.1 second. This suggests that these processes are really fast and subconscious. So I think it's hard to rein in," Laustsen said.

Laustsen说“我们不一定能够控制这个。一些来自美国的研究指出，实验室测试的参与者们会在看到两位陌生候选人图片的0.1秒之内决定出他们的偏好。这显示了做出选择的过程非常快速，且深深扎根于潜意识中。所以我认为很难去驾驭这一过程。”

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