Welcome to a balmy August edition of Amanda Zips It Up.
I had an amazing time at the Margate Soul Weekend last Saturday. I decided to drive there and back, which caused two things. Firstly, a touch of so-called ‘Range Anxiety’, as I’m now part of the ‘EV crew’ (that’s electric vehicle, for the benefit of petrolheads). Would I make it there and back with my available battery power, without a recharging stop? Plus, the journey needed to be made with an over-reliance on my Sat Nav, as I haven’t been to Margate since I was 10 years old – with my Mum and Dad (and a bucket & spade as props).
So, do you have a male or a female voice guiding you on your Sat-Nav? Why should that matter, I bet you’re thinking. Well, get this… male drivers take more risks whilst being guided by a ‘sexy sounding’ female Sat-Nav voice, a study has found.
Women with higher-pitched voices – which men find attractive – and are associated with youth, good looks and fertility (apparently) – can turn men into risk-takers, say researchers, in findings published in the Personality and Individual Differences journal.
When given driving instructions by such voices, men were much more likely to gamble and run through amber traffic lights. Hearing celebrity voices had a similar effect.
This suggests that male risk-taking behaviours influenced by female voices can be DANGEROUS when driving, raising questions about the propriety of voice packs in navigation products.
This made me laugh – they comment: “It is advisable to reduce the femininity of voices in car voice interaction designs to enhance driving safety.”
The study, which is the first to investigate links between women’s voices and risk-taking in men, involved two experiments. In the first, men in a driving simulator were given instructions by low or high-pitched female voices.
As they approached a junction, the traffic light would change to amber, giving the driver the option of going through or stopping. The results showed that when receiving instructions from the higher-pitched (female) voice, the men were around 40% more likely to run the amber light.
In a second experiment, two groups of men crossed a plank bridge in a virtual-reality setting.
Those given instructions by a high-pitched female voice crossed faster than those instructed by a low-pitched voice, encouraged to take more risks.
So, there you go guys… don’t set your Sat Nav or Waze app to Margot Robbie or Emma Stone if you’re in the driving seat any time soon. Stick to Barry White.
In this instalment we revisit Fish Sperm Facials as I attend my second session today, the return of the puffball skirt and James Bond as you’ve NEVER seen him before.
