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Gender Communications Quiz

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  1. Gender Communications Quiz
  2.  
  3. How much do you know about how men and women communicate? If you think a statement is an
  4. accurate description of communication patterns, mark it true. If you think it isn't, mark it false.
  5.  
  6. 1. Men talk more than women.
  7.  
  8. 2. Men are more likely to interrupt women than to interrupt other men.
  9.  
  10. 3. During conversations, women spend more time looking at their partner than men do.
  11.  
  12. 4. Nonverbal messages carry more weight than verbal messages.
  13.  
  14. 5. Female managers communicate with more emotional openness and drama than male managers.
  15.  
  16. 6. Men not only control the content of conversations, they also work harder in keeping conversations
  17. going.
  18.  
  19. 7. When people hear generic words, such as "mankind" and "he," they respond inclusively,
  20. indicating that the terms apply to both sexes.
  21.  
  22. 8. In classroom communications, male students receive more reprimands and criticism.
  23.  
  24. 9. Women are more likely than men to disclose information about intimate personal concerns.
  25.  
  26. 10. Female speakers are more animated in their style than are males.
  27.  
  28. 11. Women use less personal space than men.
  29.  
  30. 12. When a male speaks, he is listened to more carefully than a female speaker, even when she
  31. makes the identical presentation.
  32.  
  33. 13. In general, women speak in a more tentative style than do men.
  34.  
  35. 14. Women are more likely to answer questions that are not addressed to them.
  36.  
  37. 15. There is widespread gender segregation in schools, and it hinders effective classroom
  38. communication.
  39.  
  40. 16. Female managers are seen by both male and female subordinates as better communicators than
  41. male managers.
  42.  
  43. 17. In classroom communications, teachers are more likely to give verbal praise to female than to
  44. male students.
  45.  
  46. 18. In general, men smile more often than women.
  47.  
  48. Explanations of the Answers
  49.  
  50. 1. True. Despite the stereotype, the research is consistent and clear. In classrooms, in offices, in
  51. group discussions, in two-person conversations, men talk more than their fair share of the time.
  52. For example, in one experiment male and female subjects were asked to verbally describe
  53. pictures and engravings. The women's average description was approximately three minutes. For
  54. a man, the average time was 13 minutes.
  55.  
  56. 2. True. When women talk with other women, interruptions are evenly distributed. When men talk
  57. with other men, interruptions are evenly distributed. However, when men and women talk with
  58. one another, almost all interruptions are by male speakers.
  59. Sociologists Candace West and Donald Zimmerman analyzed conversations in university
  60. settings, both on and off campus. They found that males interrupt females much more often than
  61. they interrupt other males and more often than females interrupt either males or females. These
  62. sociologists think that interrupting is a way of exercising power. They say, "Here we are dealing
  63. with a class of speakers, females, whose right to speak appears to be casually infringed upon by
  64. males."
  65.  
  66. 3. True. Many studies-with subjects ranging from infants to the elderly-have shown that women are
  67. more likely than men to look at their partner. One reason may be that men talk more and women
  68. listen more. Research shows that a listener of either sex looks more at a speaker than the
  69. speaker looks at the listener. Another possible reason why women look more frequently at a
  70. partner may be their need for and expertise in decoding nonverbal cues. In a direct staring
  71. confrontation, however, women will be more likely to avert their eyes, especially when stared at
  72. by men. Frequently, a woman will tilt her head back rather than look directly at a man.
  73. Researchers call this a presenting gesture that reflects friendliness and submission.
  74.  
  75. 4. True. Nonverbal messages carry over four times the weight of verbal messages. Other research
  76. shows that in most two-person conversations, nonverbal messages convey more than 65 percent
  77. of the meaning. Women seem to communicate more effectively on this nonverbal channel. They
  78. are better than men at decoding nonverbal cues. They are also more likely to reflect their feelings
  79. through facial expressions.
  80.  
  81. 5. False. Research conducted at a Midwest hospital and in the clerical departments and production
  82. lines of manufacturing firms show that both female and male managers score higher than the
  83. general population in communicating friendliness and approval to subordinates. Further, women
  84. managers are no more emotionally open or dramatic than their male counterparts. Both sexes
  85. appear to feel that managers should not demonstrate these characteristics. However, there were
  86. some communication differences. Male managers were more dominant in style and more likely to
  87. direct the content and flow of the conversation.
  88.  
  89. 6. False. While men do exert power and authority in controlling the course of conversations, women
  90. exert more effort in maintaining communication. Sociologist Pamela Fishman placed tape
  91. recorders in homes of couples who described themselves as free of traditional sex role
  92. stereotypes. Fishman recorded over 50 hours of conversations that occurred naturally. Over 96
  93. percent of the topics men introduced were developed into conversations.
  94. Only 36 percent of the topics women introduced were similarly developed. Women asked more
  95. questions and were more willing to develop a topic introduced by men. In contrast, men "killed"
  96. conversational topics that women introduced by giving a minimal response, such as "um," and
  97. failing to ask questions or make more extended comments about the topic. In studies of mock jury
  98. deliberations, it has been found that women are more likely to make understanding and
  99. supportive comments.
  100.  
  101. 7. False. Terms such as "mankind," "man," and "he" are supposed to be generic and are presumed
  102. to include both men and women. Research shows that this isn't really the case. People are more
  103. literal in their thinking. Studies with elementary, secondary, and college students show that when
  104. the supposed generic term "man" is used, people envision males, even when the content implies
  105. both men and women. In another study, students illustrated supposedly generic references (e.g.,
  106. urban man) with males pictures more than they did when references were neutral (e.g., urban
  107. life). Other researchers found that when male generic nouns and pronouns were used to describe
  108. the job of psychologists, females students described the job as less attractive to them than when
  109. sex-neutral terms were used. Women who were exposed to the feminine generic ("she" to include
  110. everybody) reported feelings of pride, importance, and power. Yet another researcher reports
  111. than when an applicant for an executive position was described as a "girl," subjects rated her as
  112. less "tough," "mature," "brilliant," and "dignified," and they gave her approximately 6 percent less
  113. in salary than when the word "woman" was used.
  114.  
  115. 8. True. The research is very consistent on this issue. From preschool through high school, male
  116. students are more likely than female students to be reprimanded for misbehavior. Some studies
  117. say they are eight to ten times as likely to be scolded. Sometimes they get reprimanded more
  118. because they are misbehaving more. But other studies show that when females and males are
  119. misbehaving equally, the males are still more likely to get scolded and receive harsher penalties.
  120.  
  121. 9. True. There is some inconsistency in the research here, but most studies show that women are
  122. more likely to reveal personal information about themselves. This pattern may reflect differences
  123. in power or status between males and females. For example, in work situations subordinates tend
  124. to reveal more personal information about themselves than their superiors reveal to them. The
  125. more power a person has, the more personal information he or she is likely to receive.
  126.  
  127. 10. True. Female speakers display more animated behavior, including amount and intensity of eye
  128. contact, gestures, facial expressions, and body movement. Further, they are more likely to use a
  129. wider range of pitch and more variable intonations than male speakers. However, men appear to
  130. be more dramatic in their verbal behavior. They are more likely to tell anecdotes and jokes.
  131.  
  132. 11. True. Women's space is far more likely to be intruded on by others. Women are approached
  133. more closely than men by both women and men. When women and men approach each other on
  134. the street, women are more likely to walk around men or move out of their way. In homes men
  135. are more likely to have their room, study, or den-an inviolate area where nothing is to be touched.
  136. Women also use space in a more confining way. While men are more likely to sit with arms and
  137. legs apart, women cross legs at ankles and sit with hands in their laps, taking up far less space.
  138. This reduced control of space or territory is characteristic of those with less power and status.
  139.  
  140. 12. True. Both female and male members of audiences pay more attention to male speakers than
  141. female speakers. Audience members recall more information from presentations given by males.
  142. This appears to occur whether the information is stereotyped as appropriate for males or
  143. stereotyped as associated with females. And it occurs even when male and female speakers
  144. make an identical presentation.
  145.  
  146. 13. True. According to linguist Robin Lakoff, "women's language" is characterized by certain
  147. patterns:
  148.  Making statements that end in a questioning intonation or putting tag questions at the end
  149. of declarative sentences (This is a good movie, isn't it?).
  150.  Using qualifiers such as "kind of" or "I guess."
  151.  Use of "empty adjectives" (divine or lovely) and use of "so" with adjectives (so
  152. thoughtful).
  153. While not all studies support Lakoff's notion of women's speech, several show that women do
  154. express themselves with more diffidence and less assertion than men. Many researchers claim
  155. that tentative speech patterns do not characterize the speech of women so much as they
  156. characterize the speech of those who lack power. For example, one group of researchers
  157. analyzed communication in a police station. They found that both male and female clients who
  158. came to the station were more likely to use "women's language" than were either male or female
  159. police personnel. There are consequences to using "women's language." Both men and women
  160. who speak in a tentative, nonassertive style are less likely to be believed by a jury. In fact, only
  161. recently has the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) allowed women to read the news over
  162. the air because they were perceived to lack credibility or authority.,
  163.  
  164. 14. False. Men manage to capture more than their fair share of talk time. Sometimes women actually
  165. help men gain this advantage because they are more likely to ask questions while men are more
  166. likely to give answers. However, men often take this advantage for themselves by interrupting
  167. women and by answering questions that are not addressed to them.
  168.  
  169. 15. True. When people hear the work "segregation," they usually think about racial discrimination.
  170. Gender segregation may occur in more subtle ways, but it is widespread. Teachers, or students
  171. themselves, frequently form separate boy and girl lines, seating arrangements, work groups, play
  172. areas, and even science lab work teams. Even college classrooms display gender segregation in
  173. student seating arrangements. Children cross racial lines more often than gender lines in
  174. classroom communication. Some researchers have found that students are often unwilling to
  175. work together on science projects. However, teachers can encourage boys and girls to play and
  176. work together simply by praising children engaged in cross-gender interaction. An important
  177. implication of the research is that when girls and boys work and play together, they are less likely
  178. to hold stereotyped attitudes.
  179.  
  180. 16. True. Despite the stereotypes, when employees work for a female supervisor, they vote their
  181. approval. Female managers are seen as giving more attention to subordinates, as more open to
  182. new ideas, and as more supportive of worker effort than male managers. Both female and male
  183. subordinates report that morale and job satisfaction are higher when supervised by women.
  184. Others report that women are more dependable, show greater concern, and pay better attention
  185. to detail. Research on female managers in the business world is related to research in
  186. elementary schools. Studies on elementary schools with female principals show that these
  187. schools are warmer, more democratic, and are characterized by higher student achievement and
  188. higher pupil and parental satisfaction.
  189.  
  190. 17. False. Although girls get better grades than boys, they receive less verbal praise from teachers.
  191. When girls do get praise from teachers, it is likely to be for neatness and appearance. ("That's an
  192. attractive paper." "You have very neat handwriting.") In contrast, when boys get praise, it is more
  193. likely to be for the intellectual quality of their ideas. Not only do teachers praise boys more, but
  194. they also criticize them more, ask them more questions, and give them more attention in general.
  195. 18. False. Women are far more likely to smile than men. They do this in many different social
  196. situations, even though they are not necessarily happy or amused. In one field study, researchers
  197. smiled at approximately 150 males and 150 females in public. In general, women returned the
  198. smiles more often than men. Women returned the smiles to men 93 percent of the time and to
  199. other women 86 percent of the time. Males smiled back at women 67 percent of the time, and
  200. they returned smiles to men 58 percent of the time.
  201.  
  202. From Myra Sadker and Joyce Kaser, The Communications Gender Gap, Mid-Atlantic Center for Sex
  203. Equity, 5010 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., Suite 308, Washington, D.C. 20016, 1984.
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