First Advisor

Robert W. Shotola

Term of Graduation

Spring 1992

Date of Publication

5-11-1992

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Sociology

Department

Sociology

Language

English

Subjects

Interpersonal communication -- Sex differences, Communication -- Sex differences, Sexism in communication

DOI

10.15760/etd.6096

Physical Description

1 online resource (3, vi, 100 pages)

Abstract

Communication problems and conflict may occur between partners in intimate dyads when systematic gender differences in language contribute to misinterpretations.

This research investigated effects of gender on interpretations of hypothetical conversations between dyads, and also on judgments of likelihood of conflict.

Following research by Fishman (1983), it was hypothesized that male and female subjects' interpretations of male speakers would be more similar than would male and female subjects' interpretations of female speakers. Based on Tannen's (1990) work, it was hypothesized that male subjects' ratings of likelihood of conflict would relate to their interpretations of speakers as "controlling;" female subjects' ratings of likelihood of conflict were expected to relate to their interpretations of speakers as "rejecting."

An experiment using a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design was conducted. (Independent variables were: gender of an initiating speaker (speaker A), gender of the responding speaker (speaker B), and gender of the subject. Dependent variables were subjects' ratings of five possible interpretations for each speaker, and subjects' ratings of likelihood of conflict between the speakers.

The first hypothesis was supported by four significant two-way interactions obtained from 3-way ANOVAs conducted for forty dependent variables. Male and female subjects' interpretations of male speakers were similar, while male and female subjects rated female speakers differently.

The second hypothesis was first tested with 3-way ANOVAs. Two main effects, two two-way interactions and one three-way interaction were obtained. All showed significant effects of the gender of the initiating speaker on subjects' ratings of likelihood that conflict would follow the conversation. When a female hypothetical speaker initiated a conversation, conflict was rated as more likely than when a male speaker initiated the identical interaction.

The second hypothesis was further investigated with stepwise multiple regression analyses, using all variables as predictors. The hypothesis was supported by finding that different interpretations were associated with male and female subjects' ratings of potential conflict. Male subjects' ratings of conflict were related most strongly to control-aspects of interpretations of conversation. Female subjects' ratings of conflict were related to some of those same control-aspects, but also to rejected affiliation attempts.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this dissertation or thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to pdxscholar@pdx.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/24349

Download

Share

COinS