|
Men talk just as much as women |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Helen Kennedy, MCT
|
|
Friday, 06 July 2007 |
|
|
|
|
A bunch of scientists in Arizona have two words for psychologists who claim it's proven that women talk more than men: Shut up.
Setting out to blow up a stereotype, the researchers miked 396 college students with a gizmo they call an EAR (electronically activated recorder) and counted up how many words the students said in a day.
The result? Both genders use about 16,000 words a day.
"The data fail to reveal a reliable sex difference in daily word use," wrote Dr. Matthias Mehl of the University of Arizona in an article appearing Friday in Science magazine.
"The widespread and highly publicized stereotype about female talkativeness and male reticence is unfounded."
Mehl, who is about a medium on the chattiness scale, said in an interview that he had long known men and women talk about the same amount.
But he decided to prove it last year when a splashy book proclaimed that women say 20,000 words per day versus 7,000 words for men.
That statistic has been deleted from more recent editions of "In The Female Mind" by Dr. Louann Brizendine, but it's too late: The figures keep getting repeated as gospel.
"People love gender differences," Mehl said. "But it wasn't true."
He said the differences between individuals were far more dramatic than between the sexes. One motormouth, a man, spoke a whopping 47,000 words a day. The quietest, also a man, used just 700.
And yet, the notion that women gab too much transcends human culture.
The Scots have a saying, "There is nothing so unnatural as a talkative man or a quiet woman." The Chinese say, "The tongue is the sword of a woman and she never lets it become rusty."
Mehl speculated that "the stereotype evolved out of conflict behavior: Women want to talk and men withdraw verbally. Then we overgeneralized to apply that everywhere."
Indeed, plenty of studies have shown that men talk much more than women when it comes to classrooms and boardrooms.
But Mehl's study wasn't about to explode all the stereotypes.
"We did find men talk more about money, sports and technology and women talk more about relationships," he allowed, knowing that revelation wasn't going to render anyone speechless. | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
