Study: How women’s voices inspire men to risk their lives

There’s science behind this irresistible temptation.

From the majestic courtship dance of peacocks to the Trojan War, men will do some pretty silly things to impress women, but new research suggests their efforts to woo their sweetheart also depend on her ability to seduce.

A study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found that men were more willing to be lured into taking risks by a woman with a high-pitched voice, but only if she also enjoyed it. Further testing showed that when the woman seemed uninterested in risky behavior, the men tended to take a more cautious approach.

We see it all the time. Elaborate marriage proposals. Dangerous TikTok challenges. “The Bachelorette.” Evolutionary theory suggests that men willing to take risks for a woman mean better genes and therefore more viable mating partners, but where they draw the line may also depend on the quality of a woman they consider a wife.

Previous research on the relationship between female attractiveness and voice pitch has shown that men prefer women with high-pitched, lively voices over those with low, sexy voices. In the new study, the Chinese researchers took this finding a step further, asking the extent to which men would pursue such women.

They conducted two experiments in which they asked Chinese adult males to participate in hypothetical scenarios in virtual reality, requiring them to take cues from either a high-pitched or low-pitched female voice. The first test involved a driving simulation in which a female voice was used to guide the driver, giving them the option to slow down or run a yellow light.

The second test raised the virtual stakes. Two groups of heterosexual men were assigned to listen to a marketing pitch delivered by a woman with either a high-pitched or a low-pitched voice. After the speech, they rated the speaker’s voice on attractiveness. Next, the male participants were presented with statements about what women like. Each man received one of two memos: Women want men who are either “brave, strong, healthy, athletic and manly” or “patient, family-oriented, kind, attentive and mature” — one designed to encourage risk-taking behavior, the other to discourage it.

Finally, the men donned virtual reality gear and were instructed to walk up a three-meter-high plank suspended from a digital tower. The speed with which they completed the task was considered a measure of their risk-taking behavior.

Results from both tests showed that men were willing to take greater risks when exposed to the appeal of a high-pitched female voice. However, the only scenario in which the high-pitched female voice was not associated with risk-taking was when the male participants in the second experiment were told that women preferred safe men.

“The study shows that individual psychology and behavior are not only influenced by evolutionary factors, but also by the sociocultural context in which they develop. Men’s risk-taking behavior shows situational sensitivity and is the result of both natural and cultural adaptation,” the study authors concluded in the report.