Power displays between women and men in discussions of gender-linked tasks: A multichannel study.

Abstract

We conducted a multichannel investigation of how gender-based familiarity moderates verbal and nonverbal behaviors between m n and women. Undergraduates in 24 mixed-sex dyads discussed masculine, feminine, and non-gender-linked topics. The primary dependent variables were verbal and nonverbal behaviors related to social power. The verbal behaviors examined were speech initia-tions and total amount of speech; the nonverbal behaviors studied were visual behavior (while speak-ing and while listening), gesturing, chin thrusts, and smiling. As expected, systematic differences in the behaviors f men and women emerged on the gender-linked tasks. On the masculine task men displayed more verbal and nonverbal power-related behavior than did women. On the feminine task women exhibited more power than men on most of the verbal nd nonverbal measures. Also as predicted, on the non-gender-linked task men displayed greater power both verbally and nonverbally than did women. There were twoexceptions tothis overall pattern. Across all conditions, women smiled more often han did men, and men had a higher frequency of chin thrusts than did women. In this study we investigated the communication f power between women and men. Social power concerns the ability to influence others or to control the outcomes of others (Ellyson &

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