Gender and Conversation Flashcards
What is the common assumption of who talks more?
Women talk more than men
Who did research which suggests that women don’t necessarily talk more and when?
Fisherman 1990
What did Fisherman suggest on who talks more?
In mixed sex conversations, men talk more than women
How did Fisherman measure her results?
The amount of time that men would speak was found to be approximately double the average time that a woman would speak
When giving conversational support, who is more supportive and what is their approach?
Women, their approach is to be cooperative, whereas men’s is competitive
What are specific features of women’s speech in regard to cooperation and support?
Ask more questions
Give more supportive feedback (bachkchanneling)
Pay more compliments
Initiate more topics of conversation
Effort to bring others into the conversation
Use of “you” and “we” - addressing others more
Develop ideas of previous speakers
Contrasting, what are specific features of men’s speech in regard to support?
Interrupt more
Express disagreement
Ignore others’ utterances
Show reluctance to review topics initiated by others
What have many researchers found?
That men interrupt more than women
Who did research to support interruption theories and what were their figures?
Zimmerman and West 1975
96% of interruptions were from men
Only 4% from women
What can also be said about interruptions?
Women are more likely to be interrupted than men
Example of a study which show who is interrupted and interrupts more?
Parent-child interactions
Fathers did most of the interruptions
Daughters were interrupted more than sons, both by their mothers and fathers
What are common topics of conversation of men and women?
Women - feelings
Men - things
What does women’s conversation tend to focus on?
Personal experiences, relationships and problems
What does men’s conversation tend to focus on?
Concrete topics, relation to information and facts, Objects and activities
