Psychology 409b April 7, 2006
Gender and Age Differences in Conversations
By Andrea Montague
Tannen, Deborah, Gender
and Discourse,
Instructions for this activity are found at:
www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/g24-oral1.htm
Instructor: Dr. Leon James
A. Second-grade boys
1. Display extreme discomfort in having to sit in a room with nothing to do but talk
2. Topic of conversation
a. Finding something to do
b. Planning activities, for example what kind of games they can play
c. “Local resources”- they talk about the things they find in the room
3. Duration of each topic
a. Do not stay focused on one topic for very long
b. Change topics very quickly
c. Change topic after only a few turns
4. Boys tease each other during the conversations
B. Sixth-grade boys
1. 55 topics in 20 minutes
2. Topic of conversation
a. School and homework
b. Sports
c. TV; especially sex and violence
d. Other boys at school
e. Rock band the boys played in
3. Duration of each topic
a. Lasted only a few turns
b. Most turns consisted of a single phrase or 1-2 sentences
C. Tenth-grade boys
1. Do not look around the room as did the second and sixth grade boys
2. Do not use “local resources” for topics of conversation
3. Talk longer on each topic
4. Topic of conversation on girls, drinking, friendships, other people
5. Talk about two topics simultaneously
6. Boys often bring up own topic after hearing what somebody else had to say
D. Twenty-five-year-old men
1. Display of difficulty finding a topic, but evidence of effort in starting one
2. Discomfort coming up with topic comes up in the conversations
3. Some of their conversations are slow and have occasional pauses
4. Topic of conversation on marriage and school
E. Second-grade girls
1. Able to agree on a topic quickly and told stories to each other
2. Closer physically during conversations than the boys were
3. May talk about different stories but topic is usually unchanged
4. Made touching and approving comments after hearing each other’s stories
5. Comfortable in the activity of talking
F. Sixth-grade girls
1. Topic of focus on family members, friendships
2. Conversations reflected concerns about intimacy and fights
3. Switch to different topics but on a deep level they are different versions of same topic
G. Tenth-grade girls
1. Topic of conversation on one of the girls’ relationship with her boyfriend and mother
2. 18 topics in 20 minutes but spend majority of time on only two topics
3. Topic about interpersonal relationships
H. Twenty-five-year-old women
1. Topic of conversation about relationships and life plan
2. Effort to maintain a sense of equality among the women- even putting themselves down
3. Friendship also very important
I. My interpretation of the difference in age and gender
1. Differences in age
a. Increase in age reflects increased ability to think and talk about future plans
b. The older they were, the better they were able to carefully listen to others
c. Younger children more likely to be insensitive to what others had to say
2. Differences in gender
a. Younger boys had a harder time staying focused on one topic than younger girls
b. Girls changed topics but still talked about similar issues
c. Girls tended to talk more about interpersonal relationships
d. Boys talked more about sports or school
Related Links:
1. http://www.geocities.com/Wellesley/2052/genddiff.html - This site goes into depth about differences in communication styles between the sexes. Not only does it explore the differences in communication, they talk about differences in facial expressions, behaviors, speech patterns, and body language. This site is really informative and really easy to understand because it is straightforward and they use charts to compare aspects of communication between the two sexes.
2. http://www.focusas.com/ListeningSkills.html - This site addresses the parent’s role in the development of their child’s communication styles. They talk about the importance of the parent’s role in this development and explain ways in which one can improve communication with their child. They also explain ways in which a parent can guide their children to become better listners.
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/voices/yourvoice/classroom_talk.shtml#A - This site relates to this outline and is very interesting because it talks about differences in girl’s and boy’s conversation styles. Not only that, they discuss a study which looked at parental roles in the development of such differences. A lot of the material is similar to Tannen’s book, but this site focuses on early developmental influences, namely observational learning.
My Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leon/409bs2006/montague/montague-home.htm
Class Home Page: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy24/classhome-g24.htm