The Sounds of Trust: The Bouba–Kiki Effect in Political Leaders' Names

Abstract

Prior research has found evidence for the bouba–kiki effect according to which individuals associate sounds related to “bouba” and “kiki” with shapes and feelings. Using individual data from the World Values Survey, we investigate whether political leaders with names that sound “bouba” or “kiki” are associated with higher or lower trust. We first test whether the phonetic profile of organizational names is associated with trust. We find that organizations with “bouba” names are perceived as more trustworthy, whereas no consistent pattern emerges for “kiki” names. Building on this result, we examine whether the same sound symbolism extends to leaders' names. We find that individuals are more likely to trust governments led by political leaders with “bouba” names. This extends research on sound symbolism into political economy, highlighting the association between phonetic impressions and perceptions of political leaders.