Cited by 180Gender Studies in LanguageAuthorship Attribution and ProfilingDigital Communication and Language

Predicting gender from electronic discourse

Thomson, Rob, Murachver, Tamar·2001·British Journal of Social Psychology

Abstract

There is substantial evidence of gender differences in face-to-face communication, and we suspect that similar differences are present in electronic communication. We designed three studies to examine gender-preferential language style in electronic discourse. In Expt 1, participants sent electronic messages to a designated 'netpal'. A discriminant analysis showed that it was possible to successfully classify the participants by gender with 91.4% accuracy. In Expts 2 and 3, we wanted to determine whether readers of e-mails could accurately identify author gender. We gave participants a selection of messages from Expt 1 and asked them to predict the author's gender. It was found that for 14 of the 16 messages used, the gender of author was correctly predicted. In the third experiment, six messages about gender-neutral topics were composed. Using a subset of the variables identified in Expt 1, female and male versions of each message were created. When participants were asked to rate whether a female or a male wrote these messages, their ratings differed as a function of the message version. These findings establish that people use gender-preferential language in informal electronic discourse. Furthermore, readers of these messages can use these gender-linked language differences to identify the author's gender.

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Crossref · 10.1348/014466601164812

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Authors
Thomson, R., & Murachver, T.
Affiliations
University of Otago (NZ)
Corresponding author
Murachver, Tamar
Venue
British Journal of Social Psychology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2001-06
Volume
40
Issue
2
Pages
193-208
ISSN
  • 0144-6665 (ISSN-L)
  • 2044-8309
OpenAlex
W2030498115
Cited by
179
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 7
FWCI
23.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • British Journal of Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies in Language
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Authorship Attribution and Profiling
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Digital Communication and Language
Keywords
gender differences, digital communication, email, gendered language, informal discourse, gender stereotypes
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Affect, Communication, Female, Gender Identity, Humans, Male, Random Allocation, Social Perception, Verbal Behavior, Discriminant Analysis, Internet

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