This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
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 pitched dog is a large saint Bernard, while high pitched fido is a small chihuahua.
Throughout nature, the vocalizations of different animals offer clues, from birds to baboons.
The sounds you hear 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 whos up and whos down?
At one level, the answer is no.
We determine rank in 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, the tension between our modern, complex political systems and ancient biological rules that tell us who's in charge.
Nonverbal vocal signals that do not necessarily connote language or grammar the way that you and I would understand it as human beings are conveying a great deal of information.
I want to be the people's governor.
I will work honestly.
Even my soft voice might be a bit more effective at getting conservative things done.
And what we've done is we have taken that model and we have applied it to politics and to political candidates.