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The effects of gender on communication
The effects of gender on communication
Summary on verbal and non verbal communication
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Introduction
Nonverbal communication is one of the most important and necessary ways of communicating a message. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of nonverbal communication is “Aspects of communication such as gestures and facial expression, that do not involve verbal communication but which may include nonverbal aspects of speech itself…” (Dictionary ¶ 1) How one dresses, react to issues, sends signals, and how they carry themselves are all examples of nonverbal communication. There are differences in how men and women communicate nonverbally, especially with regard to body language, emotions, voice, and appearance. In fact, women use nonverbal communication more effectively than men (Goman, 2009). This is because “Women may have
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Before even talking about women in the workplace, we link women with characteristics such as being caring and emotional. The most common complaint with women is that they are always wanting to share their emotions and feelings whenever the chance is given. (First Lady 2013) This could often be an issue because emotions can alter the effectiveness of work production and dealing with clients correctly. To add to this point, women are taught to be nurturing and caring which could contribute to their gender roles. (Duggin, 2013) In another article, it summarizes that women are naturally more mature which allows them to accurately pick up on nonverbal communication. (First Lady 2013) Goman also says “A woman’s tendency to show her feelings more outwardly in gestures and facial expressions is perceived as a weakness.” (Goman 2009, ¶15)We also find that when one lets emotions get in the way of our everyday lives, one can’t get anything done successfully. Even one woman can alternate emotions of several other women within the workplace. This could hurt the professionalism within a …show more content…
In an article by Zmoreski, “38 percent of our message through our voice which includes tone and pitch with as little as 7 percent through the words we actually say” (Zmoreski 2013 ¶3)The use of one’s voice has several characteristics that can create different meanings when men and women are communicating in the workplace. The characteristics can translate emotions, attitude, and feelings. When comparing tone and pitch between men and women, women were found to be pleasant to talk to and enthusiastic. According to Schmitz, women usually speak softer, breathy tones in order to accentuate their pitch differences. (Schmitz 2012) These two qualities are highly important because it helps customers or other people in the workplace to feel more comfortable. (Bognár 2012, slide 15) A woman’s tone of voice also is found to sound more emotional, hesitant and anxious. Putting emphasis on their words can help understand how they are feeling about a particular issue. In fact, women were found to use 5 different types of tones at once. An interesting fact is a woman’s tone sounds higher when they are stressed.(Goman 2013,
Women in our society tend to take on the emotional work or
Deborah Tannen is the author of the book You Just Don't Understand where she analyzes the different meanings of communication between men and women. Her research shows that women and men use the same words and phrases and yet can interpret and react to those same words and phrases differently. Tannen compares the two sexes to find men use their conversation as a type of competition or to preserve their independence. For example, men talk about their knowledge regarding sports, cars, women, exc. Meanwhile, women try to foster intimacy through communication. For instance, women often talk and relate on a personal level. Throughout Tannen's book she uses "cross-cultural communication" to describe the differences between the language of men and women. Tannen observed that, "For males, conversation is the way you negotiate your status in the group and keep people from pushing you around; you use talk to preserve your independence. Females, on the other hand, use conversation to negotiate closeness and intimacy; talk is the essence of intimacy, so being best friends means sitting and talking. For boys, activities, doing things together, are central. Just sitting and talking is not an essential part of friendship. They're friends with the boys they do things with" (Tannen 95).
I will now be evaluating a couple concepts from chapter six of Interplay, in which the focus is on nonverbal communication and how it can communicate meaning to others without the use of words. One of the first concepts that I would like to address is how nonverbal communication is very ambiguous, as it can be interpreted in several different ways. When communication is nonverbal, it is up to the interpretation of the receiver, just as all forms of communication are. However, nonverbal communication is even more so, as with verbal communication thoughts are being voiced, but silence can be interpreted as “warmth, anger, preoccupation, boredom, nervousness, thoughtfulness – The possibilities are many.” (Adler, Rosenfeld, Proctor, 2015, pg. 176)
In this assignment, we made observations of nonverbal behaviors which are utilized in everyday life as a form of communication whether we know it or not. There are many ways that individuals’ are capable of communicating without even saying anything, such as, an individual rolling their eyes can display they’re annoyed, smiling at someone can portray that the individual is happy, and so on. Nonverbal communication uses many different aspects of life to portray meaning, such as, behaviors, attributes, symbols, or objects (Seiler, Beall, & Mazer, 2015, p. 109). When partaking in this assignment, I found that utilizing nonverbal communication was much easier than verbal, but I did feel peculiar when participating in these acts. The goal for the assignment was to find a nonverbal norm that we wanted to violate, and then we needed to violate this norm three different times. Once we had violated the norm we needed to observe and analyze the reactions we received. The norms that we had the option to violate were kinesics, oculesics, haptics, etc. I just so happen to pick kinesics, which is using movements or gestures to portray nonverbal communication.
Communication between males and females has always been somewhat complicated. Because we are arguing that males and females have different cultures we wanted to take a look at what some of these differences might be. According to our research the inherent differences between male and female culture are the different roles that society holds for them and the ways these roles lead to different communication styles. The stereotypes that men and women grow up with affect the types of ways in which they communicate. We first wanted to take a look at how they specifically differ while men and women are arguing or having normal conversations. We also looked at the different types of networks that men and women share. These networks also differ and as do the reasonings for their formation. Although we do not think that men and women need to change their cultures to effectively communicate, we do think that better communication is possible. One of the researchers we took a look at was Deborah Tannen. According to Tannen the reason that men and women do not communicate well is that men and women use language differently. Women take the attitude that conversation is to explore solutions to common problems while men concern themselves more with getting information and hard data from conversation. Tannen states that what women look for in communication is human connection, while men consider status to be most important. They are looking for independence and are constantly looking for higher accomplishments. Intimacy threatens this independence, so men have a tendency to avoid it. One of the old sayings about women is that they talk more than men. It turns out that it is not necessarily true. Women seem to talk more in private conversations than do men. Women do not generally have a fear of intimacy and therefore are much more open with one another during private conversations. It is more difficult for women to use this type of communication style in the public arena. In that case it is men that do most of the talking. Tannen ultimately argues that men use communication as a weapon. They use long explanations to command attention from who it is they are speaking to. They use it to convey information and to ultimately gain agreement. Tannen suggests that through even simple conversation men are continually protecting their status. She sugg...
When we think about communication, we think about interactions. So what is your body language communicating to me? This are the words that Amy Cuddy a social physiologist, uses when she start up her talk about body language. Cuddy’s talk “how body language shapes who you are” explains how body language can identify how much power one is feeling just by observing someone’s body language. Amy Cuddy states that when one expands one is feeling power, and when the opposite is done which is shrinking one is feeling powerless.
Who would have thought as a physician there’s so many ways to communicate with your patients and their families? After having so many years in medical school most people would like to think that it’s common sense when speaking to a patient, patient’s family, coworkers and even supervisors. Sadly, many fail to realize that being in medical school doesn’t mean you also obtain the correct social skills when telling a patient’s family that he or she is dead. Communicating with patients are key to solving unexplainable causes when the data cannot prove it. Talking to the patient, learning where they have been, what’s been going in their body, and how they feel are important for patient care and can even help diagnose that patient. In the medical
Communication is key. The study of communication is far more complex and deeper than just the function of conversation. Communication takes many forms varying from spoken and written words, to the commonly overlooked nonverbal cues. In life, every person will communicate differently. Effective leaders, however, must learn to perfect these different forms of communication and be able to apply them in the appropriate situations. The success of a leader is reliant on their ability to communicate as a whole. The intent and concentration of this paper is to show how the importance of nonverbal communication affects the credibility and success of a leader.
Further evidence of communicative differences exist between men and women in various other social settings as well. Consider, for example, those individuals employed in customer service-related Jobs. While in JC Penny, I noticed that female customer service representatives were more apt to offer immediate friendly assistance than the male reps. Men are not as cocky nor as confident in this sort of situation; their eyes tend to dart around the area of the store while the eyes of a women remain focused upon the eyes of the customer. The men seem to communicate with a lot less smiles. Apparently they have to get past a certain “ice-breaking'; point before they will feel comfortable with a genuine look of happiness.
When communicating, only a small percent of the exchange is verbal. The larger part of the message is made up of body language or movements, known as nonverbal communication. The reason for people using nonverbal communication is to enhance the message they are sending to the receiver. One way nonverbal communication differs is through cultural differences. Cultural differences have a significant impact on nonverbal communication as cultures differ greatly in their nonverbal interpretations and responses. Firstly, this essay will prove how kinesics can create barriers between people as types of nonverbal cues differ amongst cultures. It will then show that paralinguistics can be based on cultural expectations and this can create stereotyping in cross-cultural communication. Turning to haptics, it will then show that different perspectives on haptics can cause problems in a cross-cultural context. Finally, it will prove that because of different cultural norms, the use of proxemics can be misinterpreted, therefore proving that cultural differences have a significant impact on nonverbal communication.
Nonverbal communication has always played an important role in the entire communication process. It may include gestures, kinesics, haptics and other means, which a person incorporates into the communication process. These acts make the communication process more effective and meaningful. However, nonverbal communication is highly influenced by cultural differences as the context of the culture defines how the message is interpreted. This essay will analyse several types of nonverbal communication such as proxemics, haptics, kinesics, semiotics and paralinguistic. It will also analyse the messages conveyed by these nonverbal communication types in different cultures and their impact on the non-verbal communication process in relative cultural contexts.
Nonverbal communication is rich in meaning. Everyone communicates through nonverbal gestures and motions. I realized that you can decipher a lot from an individual or individuals by just paying close attention to what they do, and that words are not really necessary. Watching two people interacting, I figured that they are really close by their space communication, eye language, and body movements.
Despite how us humans are prone to communication, communication is a complex phenomena. That is why Personal and Scholarly concepts are made, to act as a guide, making communication easy. Personal theories are based on, one’s own observation about how they themself communicate. Scholarly theories and concepts are based on evidence and research. Though the fundamentals of personal and scholarly theory are different, they can often relate to each other. My two personal theories are related to non-verbal communication. While conversing, I have a tendency to avoid eye contact. I usually have to refrain myself from averting my eyes while conversing. My other non-verbal theory is about how I give different types of hugs, depending on the relationship
I learned a lot about Human Communication in this class when I read the chapter about Nonverbal Communication. Nonverbal Communication is the process of using messages that are not words to generate meaning. I learned that it happens every day. I also learned that is very hard to read or understand depending on the person you are speaking to or with. Verbal and Nonverbal codes work in conjunction with each other. The words we speak or say are used in conjunction six different ways: to repeat, to emphasize, to complement, to contradict, to substitute, and to regulate. I never knew until reading this chapter that we do these things all most every time we communicate. These are things I took for granted until now. I now know that I will pay
Teaching requires a strong relationship between the teacher and students. Nonverbal communication is vital, if underestimated, in building this trust. Nonverbal communication is “all those elements of a communication which are not essentially linguistic in nature” (Smith, 1979, p. 637). Some aspects of nonverbal communication include eye contact, facial expression, gestures, touch, proximity, posture, vocal qualities, and artifacts (Smith, 1979; Johnson 1999). These all interact with verbal communication and have many meaning that can be interpreted in a multitude of ways. As such, it is up to the teacher to be sure that their intentions are clear.