What Are the Differences Between Male and Female Communication Style?
Communication consists of transmitting what one thinks or feel, by any understandable way. If I was about to talk just about communication this following quote will be perfect to define what communication is. Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novelist, essayist, and poet who ones said, “Talk is by far the most accessible of pleasures. It costs nothing in money, it is all profit, it completes our education founds and fosters our friendships, and can be enjoyed at any age and in almost any state of health. ” The author is referring to the importance of communication, and how beneficial it could be in our lives. In this case, the quote would serve as a base to understand the term of communication, and therefore jump into our debating theme.
Whether people agree or disagree, male and female differences in communication exist. Every person is born with their own personality and characteristics with similarity among gender. Per say, women present common characteristics between them, that are different from the characteristics that most men showed when it comes to communication. There are people who believe that there are not many differences between gender communications, in the other hand many others ensure the contrast between male and female communication style; leading to differences in communication that will complement or separate any type of relationship between men and women.
Statistics does not speak for every person in the world, meaning that there are exceptions in the prototype of the female communication style, and male communication style. This leads me to believe that besides biology and nature, nurture and the environment play an important role in the development of the communication style that a person is born with. The style differences in communication are what make communication between male and female more interesting, engaging, and sometimes problematic. Are the brain differences between male and female appealing to their conversation style? Can we say that man and women are verbal or nonverbal communicators? Are they creative or simple? My goal is to answer these questions, and best describe the differences of male and female communication, if there are some.
“The brain is a sex organ,” words said by Sandra Witelson a famous neuroscientist recognized for her work, studying Albert Einstein’s brain. Amanda Ripley, the author of the article “Who Says a Woman Can’t Be Einstein?” cited Witelson’s words in her desire to explain how sex differences are influenced by the brain. Through these words she refers to the brain as one of the principal factor to gender differences. There are some remarkable and outstanding differences between male and female’s brain. For instance, men have bigger brains then women. Citing Ripley’s article once again she said, “That men’s brains are about 10 percent bigger than women’s brain overall.” This does not mean men are more intelligent than women. In fact men and women use different parts of their brain to perform similar actions; allowing men and women to have some parts of the brain more active than others, regardless of size.
Continuing with the differences in brain between male and female, according to Camille Lewis, the author of “Born to Be Different” men have more white matter in their brain, than women do. This allows men to intensively concentrate, just on specific tasks, or situations. Another difference between genders related to the brain, is the method of interaction that men and women have. According to Simon Baron-Cohen, who wrote: The Essential Difference: Men, Women and the Extreme Male Brain, he called the male mental process “systemizing” meaning that men can be more analytics, with minimum interest in feelings, and more interest in how things work. Also to be systematic leads men to lean over certain careers, like mathematics, and engineering; which are careers that involve lots of systems and patterns to follow.
In contrast with male’s brain, female’s brains are indeed 10 percent smaller than male. Unlike men, women have 15 percent more gray matter, according to Camille Lewis. To have lots of gray matter helps women to think faster, and about different things at the same time. In order to contrast Baron-Cohen’s theory about men being systematic, it is fair to mention his own theory for female mental process, which he defines it as “empathizing”. This means that women are more connected to the feelings and emotions of her surrounding, and are able to respond to them. Also to be empathetic explain why most women choose careers like social work and nursing, because they relate with the interaction between people, and relate with others. Simon Baron-Cohen also relates the ability of female’s brain to be empathetic, with women having great memory. It is well known that women usually remember things more in detail than men, and mostly relates them with emotional things. All these differences between male, and female’s brain influence the differences in the communication style of both genders, but there are some more specific differences, clear to the eye, between male and female communication styles.
One way to know differences between male and female communication style, besides studying the brain, can be by observation. It is a very simple method, and the results obtained after it can be very accurate too. After observing several people communicate, it is possible to conclude if male and female are verbal or non-verbal communicators. Dr. Yvonne K. Fulbright, on her article about male and female communication style, got to a conclusion different from what everybody has thought and believed before. Based on studies and researches, Dr. Fulbright let us know that “men talk more than women” and, that a recent study at University of Arizona showed that both genders speak about the same number of words daily. These studies mean that women are not more verbally than men, as though before. Also Dr. Fulbright found on her analysis that females are by little, better verbally skilled than man. This last result supports in some ways the typically theory, which states that women are more verbally skilled than men. Studies, and researches can be accurate, and trustworthy in its most, but observation has a bigger effect on regular people’s beliefs. That is the reason why women are considerate, more verbally than men, because of what people perceive in their daily life, rather than by factual information. Whether women are more verbally than men, or not as much as though, women are always going to be seen as talkative, and men as quite communicators. That is not the only observed difference between male and female communication style, we can also see if men and women are more complex or simple when it comes to express what they think.
Based on a in Class Field Research on the Differences and Similarities in Male/Female Popular Phrases in Texting as Denoted in Symbolism, and facilitated by Kelly e. Keough, we got to a conclusion about male and female communication styles. The experiment was as simple, as to create symbols to identify common phrases use daily through text messages. The group of girls appeared to be more complex, and imaginative in their way of expression. Almost every figure draw by the female group were different, there were few repetitions or similarity among the figures. Also the girls’ group used symbols that appeal with a specific phrase, for instance, to describe the phrase “Thank you” the girls drew a horse shoe, which have the appearance of a “u” creatively relating them. In the other hand, what the boys group showed was simplicity. The male group, on their drawings, tended to draw sticks figures for almost all the phrases, showing lack of imagination, and creativity. The boys ‘group even took advantage of their technology to assist them on their task, relying on other things besides their own knowledge or ability to create. This experiment showed clear differences between male and female way of communication, and of expression.
To decide if there are differences in the communication style of male, and female; by studying their brains, and through the observation of their behavior, we can conclude that actually there are many differences. First is the brain, where its three big differences are, difference in size where men have bigger brains, more white matter, and their mental process is more systematic. In the other hand women have smaller brains, more gray matter, and their mental process is more empathetic. The part of the body most involve when it comes to communication is the brain, because is where all the thinking happens, the control of our movements, and our ability to express; everything is control by the brain. To have differences in the brain, could explain why there are many differences also in their communication style. Other notable differences between male, and female communication style are women being more verbal than men, and also being more complex and creative then men. Those differences are what makes communication between male, and female more interesting, and through those differences, human have learned to understand each other, and communicate.
