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