Her voice has been described as “cotton candy, smoke, wind, lollipops and velvet.” “Champagne lava.” “The slow folding and unfolding of a pink cashmere sweater.”
Psychologist David Huron uses a different word to describe Marilyn Monroe’s famous voice.
He calls it “wet.”
“When we see something we want to eat, when we receive praise, and even when we hug our children, our mouths literally water,” says Huron, professor of music and head of the Cognitive and Systematic Musicology Laboratory in the School of Music at Ohio State University, in a series of interviews. In any type of pleasure state, our mouths produce more saliva. Our tongue moves more fluidly within the mucous membranes of our mouth, creating what Huron calls “oral wetness cues.”
Oral wetness is a subtle and involuntary reflex; however, it broadcasts our emotional state by causing distinct change in timbre of voice. “Oral wetness offers an unspoken invitation to move closer,” says Huron. “It says, ‘Hey, over here, something good is going on. Want to join me?’ We become fascinated by the prospect of moving closer and sharing that experience.”
Marilyn Monroe’s wet voice communicated pleasure and openness. Her voice was also “aspirated,” says Huron, meaning that she increased the amount of air through her vocal cords when speaking, almost like whispering. We all aspirate our voices when we’re murmuring to a person right next to us. Yet Marilyn manipulated her wetness cues as part of her brand image. She communicated with a “pillow talk” effect even while onstage, speaking as though physically intimate with each person in the audience. (Cue your mental replay of her aurally pornographic masterpiece, “Happy Birthday, Mr. President.”)
Fascination cues influenced JFK, and they influence your audience, too. Whether you realize it or not— whether you intend to or not— you’re constantly broadcasting your innermost opinions and intentions to the world.
Which of the seven fascination triggers are you using to either pull people closer, or push them away?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Interesting. My mouth begins to water noticeably while I wait in the drive-thru for my Hardee’s Thickburger. I think they is a little bit of both lust and vice at work. They are definitely using those two triggers to pull me closer while I try to push them away. Currently, they are winning.
Sally, my mouth waters whenever I learn that you’ve written something new. I just pre-ordered your new book and am quivering with anticipation. This will help me teach clients how to make their brands more fascinating for sure. Or possibly get me kicked out of the conference room.
Thanks for pointing that out, Sally. This is new information for me. I’ve read NLP publications that elaborate on body signs that reveal states/subtly communicate. Like a person holding their hands over their mouth reveals
Internal Dialog.
If their mouth is wide open, that could indicate !
Hey look. On a different note, this is one of the only blogs out there that lets you format your comments.