Gender Differences in Smiling

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Gender Differences in Smiling

For many years, gender and gender role differences have been extremely popular topics

of study in the psychological field. Everyone seems interested in knowing is there is any

truth to the popularized statement and book title, Women are from Venus, Men are from

Mars. Studies have found so many differences between men and women it leaves one

wondering in what areas are men and women alike. One nonverbal signal that appears

universal for men and women is smiling, but research shows that there are gender

differences within that behavior.

Kraut and Johnston (1999) define a smile as the major component of a facial display

associated with and caused by feelings of happiness or joy. Deutsch, LeBaron and Fryer

(1987) found that people who smile more often are viewed as carefree, warm, happy,

relaxed and polite. Mackey (1976) stated that a smile is a social signal that offers

reassurance, non-hostility or appeasement. Clearly researchers agree that a smile is

associated with positive feelings and emotions, so what is the difference between men and

women displaying this signal?

Halberstadt, Hayes and Pike (1988) offered the explanation that women smile more

than men because smiling is an important part of the nurturing, expressive role that is

socially appropriate for women to exhibit. They observed gender differences in smiling

during communication in a laboratory setting. They hypothesized that women would

smile more often than men during conversation. They found a significant difference

between the number of smiles per minute by women (mean = 3.93) and men (mean =

1.84).

Deutsch, LeBaron and Fryer (1987) conducted a study in which participants rated

p...

... middle of paper ...

...his

study should be duplicated using a much larger sample size which will allow generalization

to the entire population.

Bibliography:

Bibliography

Briton, N. J. & Hall, J. A. (1995). Beliefs about female and male nonverbal

communication. Sex Roles, 32, 79-91.

Deutsch, F. M., LeBaron, D., & Fryer, M. M. (1987). What is in a smile? Psychology

of Women Quarterly, 11, 341-352.

Halberstadt, A. G., Hayes, C. W., & Pike, K. M. (1988). Gender and gender role

differences in smiling and communication consistency. Sex Roles, 19, 589-604.

Kraut, R. E. & Johnston, R. E. (1979). Social and emotional messages of smiling: An

ethological approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1539-1553.

Mackey, W. C. (1976). Parameters of the smile as a social signal. The Journal of

Genetic Psychology, 129, 125-130.

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