The Psychology of Gender

Fourth Edition

Chapter 7
Communication

Psychology of Gender, Fourth Edition

Vicki S. Helgeson
Interaction Styles in Childhood

• Girls more likely to play in dyads, boys

in groups
• Boys and girls prefer to play with same-
sex peers
• Same-sex peer preference starts earlier
among girls (age 3) but becomes
stronger among boys (by age 5)
• Same-sex play is more gender
stereotyped than mixed-sex play
 Interaction Styles in
Childhood (cont’d)
• Same-sex play exacerbates differences
in play styles (Maccoby, 1998)
• Mixed-sex play has potential to reduce
stereotypes
 Why Children Prefer
Same-Sex Play
• Boys’ and girls’ play and
communication styles not always
compatible
 Prosocial dominance: girls
 Egoistic dominance: boys
 Different kinds of conflict in girls’ play
• Girls find it difficult to influence boys
• Institutional support (e.g., schools,
family) for same-sex play
TABLE 7.1 Relational Aggression Items
Interactional Styles in Adulthood

• Most research from studies of small

groups
• Childhood play styles map onto
differences in adult interaction
• Sex differences in adult interactional
styles
 Positive social behavior: women
 Task behavior: men
 Negative social behavior: men
 Interactional Styles in
Adulthood (cont’d)
• Context important as to whether these
sex differences appear
Qualifiers of Sex Differences in
Interaction Styles
• Nature of task
 Men more task-oriented in masculine
situations, women in feminine situations
 Both sexes more task-oriented in areas in
which they have expertise
• Gender composition of group and
interaction partner
 More sex-typed behavior with own sex
 Mixed-sex group: men and women
accommodate to each other
 FIGURE 7.3 (a) Both men and women display more task behavior when they interact with a male
than a female. (b) Both men and women display more positive social behavior when they interact with a
female than a male. Numbers represent the percentage of all behaviors displayed in a particular dyad.
Source: Adapted from Carli (1989).
 Qualifiers (cont’d)

• Setting
 Sex differences more likely in laboratory
settings when interaction is brief and with
unfamiliar persons (Aries, 2006)
 Interactional styles among people in
ongoing relationships may be influenced by
factors other than sex
• Thus, sex differences stronger for
gender-typed tasks, same-sex
interactions, brief interactions
 Implications of Interaction
Styles for Performance
• Group’s performance may depend on
match between members’ interaction
styles and task
 Task-oriented goals need task-oriented
behavior
 Social activity, consensus goals need
positive social behavior
 Language

• Sex differences in language most

apparent when interacting with same
sex
• Men’s language more direct, succinct,
and instrumental
• Women’s language more indirect,
elaborative, affective
 Language (cont’d)

• Sex differences in amount of talking

and specific features of language
 Minimal response (e.g., “uh-huh”)
TABLE 7.2 Features of Language
 Qualifiers of Sex
Differences in Language
• Sex and familiarity of interaction
partner(s)
 Language more similar in mixed-sex dyads
• Status difference among adults
• Topic and length of conversation
• Nature of topic and sex of partner
interact to influence language
 Qualifiers of Sex
Differences in Language (cont’d)
• Sex differences reduced when gender
less salient feature of interaction
• Culture-specific socialization practices
 Nonverbal Behavior

• Meta-analyses reveal large differences

in nonverbal behavior
 Especially smiling and decoding (Hall,
2006)
• Early meta-analysis (2000):
 Women do more smiling, gazing, and
convey emotions better, read others’
emotions accurately, stand closer, touch
others
 Nonverbal Behavior (cont’d)

• Early meta-analysis (2000):

 Men show more expansive movements,
take up space
• Sex of interaction partner important
qualifier
• Sexual orientation of dyads also
matters
 Smiling

• Females smile more than males

 Largest difference among adolescents
• Different types of smiles (genuine,
false)
 Smiling (cont’d)

• Situational variables important:

 Sex difference apparent in social settings
 Larger when people know they are being
observed
 Cross-cultural variation
 Correlated with personality variables more
than sex per se
 Gazing

• Thought to convey interest and

attention
 Women gaze more than men in friendly
contexts
• Gaze can convey status
• Cross-cultural differences in meaning of
gazing, extent of sex difference
 Interpersonal Sensitivity
(Decoding)
• Refers to correct interpretation of
others’ behaviors and emotions
• Females outperform males
 Generalizes across cultures
 Holds for all age groups
 Sex of target does not make a difference
 Stronger for nonverbal facial behavior than
body movements or auditory cues
 More accurate recall of information about
other people
 Interpersonal Sensitivity
(Decoding) (cont’d)
• Except to female advantage: deception
 Encoding

• Refers to ability to convey own

emotions accurately
• Females do better at encoding than
males
• Emotional expressiveness central to
female gender role
• Sex difference larger when judging
facial expressions than vocal cues
 Touching

• Findings about sex differences in touch

vary
• Touch has different meanings (status,
intimacy)
• Qualifiers of sex difference in touch:
 Nature of the touch
 Context
 Sex and age composition of dyad
 Relationship between the people
 FIGURE 7.5 Among adults, there is greater cross-sex than same-sex touching. Among children,
there is greater same-sex than cross-sex touching. Adults are shown in Figure 7.5a and children are
shown in Figure 7.5b. Source: Adapted from Major, Schmidlin, and William (1990).
 Touching (cont’d)

• Sports context: men touch more