Men and Women Communicate
Professor Jim Ferguson
DL 22F
DATE SUMMITTED
I have always heard that men and women are from different planets and have their own cultures, while in reality we have all grown up on the same planet and interact with each other in different ways on a daily basis. Men and women are different in many ways; they see the world through completely different perspectives. The key to understanding the differences is in the way men and women communicate. Men and women differ psychologically in the way they act, from the style in which they communicate to the way in which they attempt to influence others. These gender differences in communication and influence tactics also have implications for gender differences in communication styles; communication differences in the workplace; differences in non-verbal and verbal communication; and miscommunication between men and women. Differences in communication style between men and women are visible physically, mentally and behaviorally. These two genders are different at the way how they act, sense, think and speak. Furthermore, one of the major dissimilarity between the sexes is the way they communicate. Therefore, the major common of dissimilarity in communication affects both sexes in every perspective.
In the book, You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tanen asserts that "even if they grow up in the same neighborhood, on the same block, or in the same house, girls and boys grow up in different worlds or words." These gender differences in ways of talking have been observed in children as young as three years of age, about the time language is developed. While little girls talk to be liked; little boys often talk to boast. Little girls make requests; little boys make demands. Little girls speak to create harmony; little boys prolong conflict. Little girls talk more indirectly; little boys talk directly. Little girls talk more with words; little boys use more actions. While boys