Transcript Communication Between Genders

Communication
Differences Between
the Sexes
Socialization affects
Communication Patterns
• Peer groups
girls tend to establish
harmony and cooperation
boys tend to establish
dominance and power
Socialization affects
Communication Patterns
• In Conversations
Boys value aggressiveness,
arguing, storytelling,
ostentatious behavior, and
tend to dominate conversation
More likely to interrupt
Socialization affects
Communication Patterns
• In Conversations
Girls seek approval,
contribute to conversation
instead of interrupt, use
listening cues, & make use of
indirectness (more on this
later)
Language
• Very important in socializing
• Words are symbols in which we
give meanings
• They do three things
• 1. Define
• 2. Describe
• 3. Evaluate
Language
• Draw the most typical person
w/typical name
• Language affects women in 3
ways
• 1.) Ignores Them
• “Generic he” (Ex: caveman)
• There is no gender neutral
pronoun (only he, she, & it)
Language
• Only 25% named a female when
asked to draw a person so for
most of us, the “typical” is male
• 2.) Defines women
• Female is defined by relationship
she has w/a male
• Surnames link to father or
husband
Language
• For a female, a name should be
a non issue
• Feminists argue changing your
name is a loss of identity
• Religion of child follows mother
so why doesn’t the name?
• Historically, wife and children
were considered property
Language
• 3.) Deprecates Women - puts
them down
• Names of men & women who
get around (player vs. slut)
• We downplay things that are
female such as the male vs.
female form of a word
• Female usually ends in “ess”
Language
• Example: Governor v.
“governess”
• Study: professors were sent
journal articles to rate
• Were identical except for the
name of the author
• Females were rated less than if
male names were on articles
• Females often use pen names
Patterns of Communication
• Words hurt and heal
• How would you feel if you were
constantly criticized?
• Men solve (find solutions) and
women process (talk about it)
and then solve
• Females are better at
expressing emotion & feelings
non-verbally
Non Verbal Skills
• Social eye contact - how much
eye contact you make in a
social situation
• Females look away
• People who look away seem
insecure
Non Verbal Skills
• 1 male and female volunteer to
sit in chair
• Hold hands
• Who is leading who?
• Personal Space - women take
up less
• Body position - females sit in
more restrictive posture
Non Verbal Skills
• (legs crossed) while males sit
with legs out
• Space is status (ex: bigger
office, bigger house)
Verbal Skills
• Female friendships
characterized by sharing
confidences
• Male friendships characterized
by sharing activities
• Women value details & express
concern & understanding
• Men are socialized to act, not to
be concerned
Verbal Skills
• When women say “mmhm” they
mean “I’m listening” while
when men say “mmhm” they
mean “I’m agreeing”
• Women ask questions to
maintain a conversation
• Men ask questions to obtain
facts and information
Verbal Skills
• Masculine - direct or powerful
• Feminine - indirect, powerless
(seem weak or less convincing)
• Doesn’t matter if a person is a
male or female
• 4 examples of Feminine Speech
Patterns
Feminine Speech Patterns
• 1. Tag Questions - implies
passivity
• It’s asking for validation so
shows doubt and weakness
• EX: “That was a good movie,
wasn’t it?” or “Call me back, all
right?”
Feminine Speech Patterns
• 2. Qualifiers - words or
phrases that soften a statement
• EX: “This may be a stupid
question but…”
• 3. Longer request phrases
• EX: Men to secretary “Photocopy this for me” while
Woman would say to secretary
Feminine Speech Patterns
• “When you have the time could
you please photocopy this for
me”
• 4. Fillers - suggest discomfort
with a topic
• EX: “Ums, ers, ya know, like”