Vocal pitch as an acoustic marker of social support efficacy in women friendships

Vocal communication (e.g., pitch) can shape inferences about speakers and the content of their messages. Yet, it’s unknown how such communication impacts the effectiveness of social support. We examined the role of support givers’ vocal pitch in three dyadic datasets (N1 = 39; N2 = 39; N3 = 59; friend pairs) where participants recorded scripted reappraisals (i.e., reinterpretations) of aversive stimuli to support a friend with regulating emotion. Using Bayesian statistics, we found cumulative evidence that when support givers used higher pitch in delivering these reappraisals, targets of support experienced less negative affect. Targets of support also reported greater relationship satisfaction with support givers who used higher pitch during reappraisal. These data consisted primarily of women friend pairs, with preliminary results indicating that these associations may not hold in men friendships. These results highlight acoustic features of verbal communication as a promising frontier for strengthening social ties and emotional wellbeing.