Preview

Gender Differences In Nonverbal Communication

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
798 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gender Differences In Nonverbal Communication
Its easy to identify the most common stereotypical differences in male and female types of nonverbal communication. Everyone is familiar with the characteristics of macho men and delicate women that have developed over the years. There are many jokes, funny plays ,and movies that have been made because of the results that come about when characters attempt to act like the opposite sex. Even though many of us behave as the stereotypical masculine or feminine character, there are many obvious differences in the way men and women look and act.
One of the many reason men and women communicate nonverbally differently, is because their reasons for communicating differ. Men usually communicate to relay information and solve problems. Women usually communicate to express feelings and gain emotional intimacy. Women tend to use nonverbal communication more than men. Women also tend to be better than men at interpreting nonverbal signals, according to the website Body Language Expert. They are also better at reading unintentional nonverbal messages, such as signals of deception. Although men often send nonverbal signals, they typically do so with less
…show more content…
According to Judith Hall, a social psychologist specializing in nonverbal communication, women remember the appearance of others better than men. Her research also indicates women typically have more ability to interpret all nonverbal cues. Because girls tend to be taught to nurture and provide care, this may be related to their gender role. To improve communication between men and women, all business personnel should take care to pay attention to the messages they send by their appearance as a form of nonverbal communication. For example, appropriate business attire conveys a sense of commitment and respect to the job. Save casual clothes for the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nonverbal communication includes all manifestations of non-verbal communication: body language, paralinguistics, temporal aspects of non-verbal expression, communication through action, products, barriers, non-verbal constellations congruence between individuals (Dařílek, 2005). Nonverbal communication creates an image of our personality and the impression which it leaves. Up to 55 percent of the information are said by our body language, therefore, we can say body language is speaking without words. However, there are a few noticeable differences in female body language.…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    All types of communication interaction involve two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, and nonverbal. These cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures accompany our words in order to create a clear message. Every person is continuously communicating even when they are not saying a word, thus, it is possible to send an exclusively non verbal message but it is not possible to send an exclusively verbal message. Nonverbal cues in the interaction are always more powerful indicators of what a speaker means and what the speaker feels because non verbal cues have not been learned and therefore are not manipulated. In the movie Victor Victoria, nonverbal cues are used to emphasize the gender of characters. There are certain nonverbal cues that accentuates a woman. One example from the movie is Victoria’s long hair. Long hair in the 1930’s was how a woman was identified. Toddy cuts Victoria’s long hair to create the illusion that she is man. Along with a woman’s long hair, their breast were also a symbol of womanhood. Victoria is asked to wrap her breast as well as walk with her chest sticking out to emphasize that she is man, because walking with their chest out was a mans way of showing confidence. In a scene in the movie Victor is going to say cheers before drinking and he is laughed at because traditionally women are the one’s that cheer before drinking. Another gender based nonverbal cue is in the nightclub, during performances the women dance and the men are in the orchestra. It was normal for the women to be dancers in that era because a woman is built a lot more flexible so manipulating their bodies is easier although there are exceptions. A characteristic that separates men and women is pride. Although I am not saying women do not have pride, men are willing to go above and beyond to protect their pride; an example of this is when Toddy accepts the ride back to their hotel even…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nonverbal communication plays an integral role in the overall communication strategies of humans, and being cognizant of this fact can give one the upper edge in communicating in…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nonverbal communication is ambiguous it can have many possible meanings like courtship and sexuality, safeway, nonverbal learning disorder. Gender can differ from women and males, women are much better at recognizing behaviors and they are more expressive. Cultures have different nonverbal languages, differenced can damage a relationship due to the nonverbal behavior. When we are talking we do move our body whether we face toward or away from someone we also do many body gestures to have a precise meaning. We also express messages through touch, appearance, physical characteristics, space, and…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are some distinct differences between how men and women use and understand communication. There are differences in how we approach, laugh, or relate to a conversation based on the genders of each party that may arise in some challenges. Understanding of how each gender interacts with certain topics makes…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    1.3 Explain why different social, professional and cultural contexts may affect relationships and the way people communicate…

    • 2650 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Floyd discusses the many ways that gender affects interpersonal communication. Pick 2 interpersonal relationships (one with a man and one with a woman) – describe how you communicate differently based on the gender of the other person and your gender as well.…

    • 635 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Special Issues Megan Huff

    • 1755 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Gender has been widely studied when it comes down to communication and how both men and women do so. Everyone has heard the saying that women speak more mindlessly than men and because of this a woman’s speech is assumed to be less assertive and lacking in power than a man’s speech. However, this is certainly not true. “In one Toronto classroom, the males were found to speak 75-80% of the time (Gaskell, McLaren, & Novogrodsky, 1989)” (Meier, 1999). It has also been found that men tend to interrupt in conversations more so than women do and are also more competitive in conversation and communication. Men and women definitely communicate differently; however, this is…

    • 1755 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    To conclude with, I would say that the differences between men and women –in their communication styles doesn’t mean that one’s sex whether it be man or woman is better than the other; it simply means that both styles of communication are equally effective to that gender.…

    • 108 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Male vs Females

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As described in Weiten, Dunn & Hammer, the Characteristics of traditional masculine and feminine body language differ in many areas. Many people may look at the behavior of aggression as a traditional body language as masculine for a male. Man people may look at the traditional body language of a female as being nurturing and loving for the feminine role. It’s very obvious that men and women differ in physical appearance as well as body parts but there are still many differences (Janet Shibley Hyde, 2004). Many Americans in society today have characteristics that partake in life roles of females and males today life males are more active, aggressive, and independent, but women are more creative, emotional, and needs approval.(Best & Thomas, 2004; Williams & Best, 1990).…

    • 457 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Therefore, women are way more likely to pick up on body language than men. Some critics say that men are more likely to pick up on body language. That assumption is false and redundant because it’s been stated in my paper previously that men are told to “suck it up.” Therefore, there’s no way males can read non-verbal communication better than female because sadly, in today’s society the belief that men must hold in and not express or show any type of emotions because it will make them look weak is actually something I witness every day and has actually happened to me. When I was expressing myself to a female, I told to “stop being dramatic” and “stop acting like a b****.” That is a prime example. An example that has not only happened to me once, but twice. This and all the information stated above is the reason why women are more likely to pick up on body language than…

    • 1172 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Often time’s men and women communicate differently which lead to misunderstandings. Though, when it comes to researching you really start to come to and understanding of what those differences really are. I guess you could say some people would argue about the similarities and differences between genders, but until they do the research as well they’ll never know what they are. The question that I wanted to know in all this was, do men actually listen when a women is talking? The results however were in fact exactly what I had in mind. Men tend to tune women out, but in certain cases they do listen. In this paper you will come to find some of these differences between men and women. Not only will you learn about the differences, but that they are actually very noticeable that people run into all the time it’s just taking the time to notice them.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Due to cross-cultural differences between genders such as gender role association, observational learning and operant conditioning men and women communicate differently. Because of communication differences between genders they…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For this assignment I chose to focus on the section of the chapter that deals with the influence of gender on nonverbal communication. I have seen nonverbal communication influence my everyday conversations, but have never took the time to analyze the way in which gender influences the communication and how it also varies based on emotion and situation. All of the various ways that gender influences nonverbal communication including eye contact, distance between the speaker and the listener, and also the uses of facial expressions during conversation have impacted my day to day interaction with other people, but you don't really notice the differences until you begin to look for them and then they stick out more than any other aspect of a conversation.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Men and Women Communicate

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I have always heard that men and women are from different planets and have their own cultures, while in reality we have all grown up on the same planet and interact with each other in different ways on a daily basis. Men and women are different in many ways; they see the world through completely different perspectives. The key to understanding the differences is in the way men and women communicate. Men and women differ psychologically in the way they act, from the style in which they communicate to the way in which they attempt to influence others. These gender differences in communication and influence tactics also have implications for gender differences in communication styles; communication differences in the workplace; differences in non-verbal and verbal communication; and miscommunication between men and women. Differences in communication style between men and women are visible physically, mentally and behaviorally. These two genders are different at the way how they act, sense, think and speak. Furthermore, one of the major dissimilarity between the sexes is the way they communicate. Therefore, the major common of dissimilarity in communication affects both sexes in every perspective.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays