This is Hidden Brain, I'm Shankar Vedanta.

Which dog do you think is bigger?

Fido?

Or Rover?

Both of these dogs are making the exact same sound.

They're barking.

But the vocal quality of the barks easily gives away the size of the dog.

The lower pitch dog

is a large, sane Bernard.

While high-pitched Fido is a small chihuahua.

Throughout nature

the vocalizations of different animals offer clues.

From birds to baboon

it sounds you here can tell you useful things about an animal's size, its intentions,

even its role in its social hierarchy.

But is any of this true for humans?

Does the human voice convey anything important about who's up and who's down?

At one level the answer is no.

We determine rank and pecking order using sophisticated language and cultural norms.

In politics we select leaders through elections.

But at the same time humans are also animals.

Today on Hidden Brain

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