Who says women are more

We all listened to that women love to talk. They share any thoughts: from career to plans for lunch. They discuss important decisions and, thus, cope with their emotions. At least it is considered so. But is it really? A new study by professors at northeastern University (USA) David Laser (David Lazer) argues that it is not so simple.

At Laser learning social network and part-time working in the Department of political science and the College of computer and information Sciences, has its own vision of the issue. Using the so-called "sociometry" — a wearable device about the size of a smartphone, the researchers collected data in real time on social interactions. A team of Laser were able to get a more accurate picture of the stereotype about loving to talk to women and found out that a huge role is played by the context.





Can we so generalize the differences in the communicative behavior of men and women? The results of the research are very different: some confirm the widespread opinion, while others say that differences do not exist, but others point out that men talk more.

It is possible that such differences relate to the complexity of studying this phenomenon. Most studies rely on data that scientists collect, asking people about their past experiences, or on data obtained by direct observation of the speech act. Each of these approaches carry significant limitations. On the one hand, our memories are not as accurate as we think. On the other, the researchers can not be observed among a large number of people, which leads to the fact that the array of data necessary for the statistical analysis of the differences is not so easy to obtain. Another disadvantage of direct observation is that the subject can behave in a more affiliative under the supervision of a scientist.

A study published in the journal Scientific Reports, represents the first academic study, based on the use of sociometric to resolve the scientific question. The team of researchers also included Jukka-Pekka Onnela (Jukka-Pekka Onnela, who has previously worked in the laboratory of Laser and now with the Harvard school of public health (USA) and is a researcher in the Media lab at mit and the Harvard Kennedy school (USA).

For their study, the team of Laser recruited a group of men and women who wore sociometry, and placed the group in various social space for 12 hours. In the first space masters were asked to provide individual project, while they were allowed to communicate with each other within 12 hours. Under the second space call-center workers in a large banking company wore sociometry during 12 lunch breaks, which lasted one hour, with no, they did not put.

"Under some social conditions, which involve a greater degree of cooperation, women preferred to work together, when we work together, then, of course, say more," says Layzer. Is a very specific scenario that involves a larger number of social contacts. In fact, the difference is based on gender and the conditions of communication".

Ivan Shtepa materials Phys. Org.

 

Source: nauka21vek.ru