AGGRESSION

• Males are more likely than females to describe physical aggression in self-reports.
• Males and females are equally likely to approve or disapprove of hostility.

• Males and females are equally likely to approve or disapprove of hostilehumor.
• Females are more likely to feel guilty or anxious about aggression which may inhibit aggressive action.
• Sex differences disappear when people are given justification for aggressive behavior.

• Females are more likely to report empathic feeling for victims, but it is not clear that this limits aggressive actions.
• Sex differences tend to disappear when victim is anonymous.

• Thus, males are more aggressive than females in some situations,
• but when guilt and sympathy are not aroused females equal males in aggressive acts.

• Male Animals
• Y chromosome
• Hormones
• Children Under the Age of 6
• Cross-Cultural Studies

• Probably a small biological/hormonal difference in predisposition but most of the difference is due to socialization.
• The danger with biological/hormonal explanations is that society will not use measures that we know will lead to less aggressive adults.

• Female speech
• Male speech
• Early work
• males proact to the contributions of others
• Females react to the contributions of others
• More recent work

Grammar

• Women's spoken grammar is more correct than men's.
• Tag questions
• Recent research shows women use twice as many tag questions as men
• Usual explanations
• Men do not use because they are self-confident and forceful in their speech
• Women's use indicates uncertainty or weakness of speech.
• Alternate Explanations
• Tag questions may have two functions
• Reflect either
• uncertainty OR
• cohesiveness
• Intonation

• Interruptions
• In a five-minute conversation
• Males interrupted females 5.24 times
• and other males 2.36
• Females interrupted other females 2.50 times
• and males 0.93 times
• Total Talking Time
• Stereotype is that women talk more than men.
• Is there a real difference?
• Keeping the Conversation Going

• Problems for Women
• Strategies Used
• Problem Presentation
• Men and women interpret "talking" about a problem differently.
• EXPLANATION--Related to Dominance
• WHY ARE MEN DOMINANT IN CONVERSATIONS?
• Acquired Aspects of Masculinity and Femininity
• Sociocultural Perspective
• Division of Labor
• Sociolinguistic Subcultures
• Problem with the Dominance View
• But
• Males put the highest emphasis on hierarchical organization and on interactions that assert direction and dominance.
• Females put the greatest emphasis on egalitarian, cooperative participation and on expressive, receptive, encouraging, supportive interactions.
• CHANGING ATTITUDES ABOUT FEMALE/MALE LANGUAGE

• Deficient Position
• Difference Position
• Code-Switching Position
• FINAL POINTS

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PERSUASION

• Indirect versus Direct Power
• Personal versus Concrete Power
• Helplessness versus Competence

• "How I Get my Way"
• Romantic/Intimate Relationships
• Possible explanations for differences

POINT TO PONDER ON ALL NONVERBAL COMMUNICATIONS

• When women score lower than men on math achievement, a valuable attribute, we argue that society has produced this deficit via subtle or blatant forms of discrimination
• BUT
• when women score higher than men on nonverbal variables such as decoding activities that many would agree are valuable, we have a contradiction.
• That is, how can the subjugated group have more valuable skills than the dominant group. To explain this we must reverse the valence on nonverbal skills, i.e., make decoding skills negative so that they are a contributor to and confirmation of women's subjugation.

ALTRUISM or Helping Behavior

• Small but consistent differences between men and women on helping behavior
• Influence of Situation
• Situational Factors that Influence Helping