GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMMUNICATION

Gender Differences in Communication

Gender Differences in Communication

Introduction

Gender Differences in Communication Every race, culture, civilization, and society on this planet shares two things in common: the presence of both the male and female sex, and the need to communicate between the two. "The subject of gender differences appears to have engaged peoples' curiosity for as long as people have been writing down their thoughts, from as far back as the writing of the creation of Adam and Eve, to its current popular expression in books such as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." The assertion that men and women communicate in different ways, about different things, and for different reasons seems to go un-argued and is accepted as true by a vast majority of Americans. (Deaux, 1993)

Gender Differences in Communication

It is the reason why we communicate differently that conjures up quite a bit of debate and conversational turmoil. One of the most traditional hypothesis is the one John Gray wrote about in his book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, which essentially points to differences in brain structure, hormones, and socialization as the cause of such an enormous gender gap in communication. But that was then and this is now, scientists throughout the world are working to learn more about gender differences in communication, and much has been discovered since the days of "Mars & Venus." One such research team is that of Canary and Hause of the "Communication Quarterly." In their study, they conclude that the previous 50 years of research on sex differences in communications, such as that of John Gray, brought about no conclusive findings for such differences. The researcher's analyses of their findings provided evidence for an expectation of small differences due to sex: approximately 1% of variance, concluding that the effects found were due mostly to society and culture. Deborah Tannen, a leading scholar of communication, also shares this view of gender and communication. (Deaux, 1993) She studied ethnic groups, which speak the same language using different styles, and found that the effect of gender on communication is miniscule compared to the effect of culture and socialization. In her research, Tannen asserts that the basic uses of conversation by women are to establish and support intimacy; while for men it is to acquire status. These styles and motives for communicating represent different cultural upbringings, and one is not necessarily better than the other. However, she also notes in her findings that men tend to interrupt more and ask questions less. In fact, the female tendency to ask more questions sometimes results in receiving lower grades from male professors who view frequent questioning as proof that a student knows less than her male counter parts. The theory that differences are fabricated early in a child's life and are not biological doesn't account for everything. David Cohen, in his article regarding Tannen's findings points out a mystery in the connections she made. "Since women are primarily responsible for child-rearing and ...