Differences Of Communication

Explain how people from different backgrounds may use and/ or interpret communication methods in different ways

The typical stereotypes of communication are that women talk more than men, that is not necessarily true. For example, Tannen states, “...another explanation is that men think women talk to much because they hear women talking in situations where men would not: on the telephone; or in social situations with friends, when they are not discussing topics that men find inherently interesting, or; like the couple at the women’s group, at home alone-in other words, in private speaking” (Cooper and MacDonald 11). Men and women have two different conversational styles, different ways of talking. They also have different ideas of what is important and what is not. For example, Tannen points out that the man thought it wasn’t important that his friend was getting married, but the woman had thought that it was important (Cooper and MacDonald 12).

People from different backgrounds may use and/or interpret communication methods in different ways because every family has their own way of communicating together. For example: some children might hear or speak more than one language at home or they could hear others swearing. This can affect children’s communication and how they communicate as adults.

Besides, differences in communication skill between male and female are other consequences of differences in brain structures. Hensley (2009) explains that women have larger in two major sections of the brain than in men which responsible for language. In addition, men typically process language in their dominant hemisphere whereas women in both hemispheres. This difference ensures why women naturally good in language-based subjects and language associated-thinking. According to Lin (2008), men speak in shorter phrases than women. Approximately, men speak 12 500 words while women talk 25 500 words in a day. She adds women love to give ‘story-like’ details before come to the matter of issue. In contrast, men always yearn for gist of an issue, then only the details. They also rarely understand the hints given by women. So women, revolutionize your approach by stating the upshot clearly and directly. Next, women can maintain eye-contact for twelve seconds while men on average can maintain eye-contact only three seconds when having conversations. So gentlemen, perhaps you can give some

In “Sex, Lies, and Conversations: Why Is It So Hard For Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?” the author, Deborah Tannen, argues that both genders have different ways of communicating between each other. She states that males are more to the point and want to find the solution quickly, rather than talk it out and get all of the details about it like females do.

In “Sex, lies and communication” by Deborah Tannen she discussed how men and women are different when they have a conversation; both of them have different type of communication. When men and women communicate they do it different, women tend to give detail when they speak in other hand men go straight to the point. Women and men have a lot of misunderstanding because they are so different when they talk. Women and men are different too because their brain. Their brain is develop and connected different which make them each genre at better thing than the opposite sex. How they communicate is different; also, the way their brain is develop make them better and certain things.

Communication between genders is easier said than done and sometimes has unintended consequences. A simple misunderstanding on how the other gender communicates can cause bad results. For example, when I listen and talk I do not always have the best eye contact and most the time look away from the person. My girlfriend did not appreciate this because she thought that means I wasn’t listening, but when in fact I was. Her expectation for listening was to have a gridlock stare at each other. Deborah Tannen, the author of “Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?”, has a Doctorate in Linguistics and is an acknowledged leader in the field. I found a lot of

In order to be able to solve some of the problems associated with gender miscommunications, we should distinguish first between the two different types of communications: verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Verbal communication consists of messages expressed by linguistic means such as the use of intonation, the specific words we choose to say, and the way we are saying them. There are differences in females and males usage of language/verbal communication. As we might expect from traditional sex-role stereotypes, girls tend to establish more egalitarian same-sex groups. Girls use friendly groups as a training ground for cooperation. Boys view friendly conversation among their friends as training for verbal aggression. Females are more verbal, use three times more amount of words than males, they are much more descriptive and use more adjectives. Women are less direct in their communication style. As Prof. Tannen showed in one of her research, women are more indirect in answering questions depends on the situation. They answer questions the way they would like to be answered by men, which means more than just a yes/no answer. However, men answer the way they would like to be answered

In the piece, ‘Are Different Patterns of Communication in Women and Men Innately Determined’, Louann Brizendine, argues yes they are innately determined while, Brenda J. Allen, argues no, women and men are conditioned through social interactions based on power and position. In the creation and maintenance of the gender system, communication and gender are viewed as very important by feminists because language is a very powerful agent.

There are two articles that explains the different between men and women. According to author Deborah Tannen, article, Sex, Lies, and Conversation: Why Is It So Hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other? He explains, how do they use the body language of communication. They have different socialization; for instance, girls use talk for intimacy, but boys use talk to be better than each other “one up” like “hierarchy” just like the article “Speaking Different Languages” by the author Jonh Gray. The way Men and Women talks are the same, yet they were used gave different meanings. Their expressions were similar, but they had different suggestions or emotional emphasis. In addition, it take a few years for men to learn the women language and the emotional feel. According to Tennen and Grey, men’s and women’s different conversational styles reflect men’s need for independence and women’s need for intimacy because women use conversation to build relationships, to solve problems, and to express feelings, whereas men do not.

In my culture I do believe there are differences in the way we communicate because of gender. For instance, as a little girl I played with Barbie dolls and play house, which promoted personal relationships. Boys, on the other hand played cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians, which promoted violence. In my opinion and experiences with the opposite sex, communication is at times a very difficult thing. For example, I have been dealing with my son’s father for over six years now and no matter what I tell him he will turn everything around and make it about himself or just not even hear a word I have said. It’s as if he does not listen to anything I say or he just interprets it how he wants. I realize not all men are alike. Most men are more literal and simple minded. A lot of times they will be straight to the point and not go into details as most women would.

There exists a disparity in the communication phenomenon between men and women. This disparity according to scholars can be attributed to the male dominance in the society today and relationship tensions between couples. A study on cross-sex conversations showed that, when men and women engage in a friendly conversation, they do so as equals but they do not play the same roles in the communication. Women tend to ask more questions and likely to utter utterances that encourage responses from the other speaker. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to interrupt their partner’s conversations and make direct opinions and facts to control or dominate the conversation. Thus, the communication phenomenon between men and women is strikingly distinct.

would grow up knowing how to be sensitive to eachothers needs and also learn more about eachother which would help them understand what it takes to make healthy and long lasting relationships. It also affects how each sex conducts public communication and who the environment they are most comfortable speaking in. “ Men speak to convey information, to challenge others, to achieve status in a group, or to put themselves in a “one-up” situation. Many women, on the other hand, feel more comfortable with private conversations among friends and family. They talk to achieve and nurture intimacy, to promote closeness and equality in a group, and to build better connections to others.”(Tannen). Although the

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

"…I do not give you the right to raise your voice to me because you are woman and I am man…" (Tannen p 23) This statement is offensive to both men and women alike. Yet it is a true, telling statement as well. This one sentence shows us that in many countries, including the U.S., a patriarchal society creates a hierarchal push and pull between the genders, creating a very large gap in communication. This assertion also brings up some important questions: Are males and females merely people with different sexual organs? Or is it how we are raised which makes us communicate differently? Does mass media attribute to societal inequalities? Or is our culture to blame for