MALE AND FEMALE NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

SPECIFYING WHAT IS “MALE” AND WHAT IS “FEMALE”

EXPLANATIONS OF GENDER DIFFERENCES

MYTHS ABOUT THE NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR OF MEN AND WOMEN n WOMEN COMMUNICATE WITH LIMP WRIST GESTURES; MEN WITH STIFF, FORCEFUL ONES n WOMEN CROSS THEIR LEGS WHILE SEATED; MEN HAVE OPEN LEGS n WOMEN TALK MORE n WOMEN DO NOT INITIATE TOUCH; MEN DO

n MEN DON’T SHOW THEIR EMOTIONS n WOMEN WEAR FORM FITTING CLOTHES; MEN WEAR LOOSE CLOTHING n WOMEN SPEAK AT A LOWER VOLUME; MEN ARE LOUDER n WOMEN NEED LESS PERSONAL SPACE

n WOMEN ARE NOT PERCEIVED AS LEADERS AT THE HEAD OF THE TABLE n WOMEN BENEFIT FROM THEIR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE; MEN DON’T n MEN ARE RELAXED WHILE COMMUNICATING; WOMEN ARE TENSE

RESEARCH FINDINGS ON MALE/FEMALE NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

FEMALES DO BETTER THAN MALES AT: n DECODING n DECODING NONVERBAL CUES n RECOGNIZING n RECOGNIZING FACES n EXPRESSING n EXPRESSING EMOTIONS WHICH CAN BE DECODED ACCURATELY

FEMALES HAVE: n MORE EXPRESSIVE FACES n MORE SMILING (AS ADULTS) THAN MEN n MORE GAZING (AND GAZE AVERTING) IN CONVERSATION THAN MEN n SMALLER APPROACH DISTANCES AND MORE DIRECT BODY ORIENTATION THAN MEN n FEWER SPEECH ERRORS THAN MEN

FEMALES USE BODY MOVEMENTS AND POSITIONS THAT APPEAR TO BE: n LESS n LESS RESTLESS THAN MEN EXPANSIVE THAN MEN n MORE n MORE INVOLVED THAN MEN EXPRESSIVE THAN MEN SELF-CONSCIOUS THAN MEN