Gender differences are the socialized behaviors we develop throughout life and that are reinforced in social, family, and work life. Often times these differences lead to miscommunication and strife. It's not that one communication style is inherently bad ,but that when one does not understand the other's approach the interpretation may not correlate to the message that the sender intended.
According to Tannen in our text women look at communication with people as equals and communication being weblike. Women also look at communication in terms of being supportive. Men look at communication as hierarchical and therefore communicate in ways that show their knowledge and are more direct and assertive. Either of these approaches has its stengths and weaknesses but a shared weakness is that if you are unaware they both can become inneffective.
If a woman feels a man is talking about his own knowledge and skills too much she might assume he is egotistical. Conversely a man who sees a woman behave as though they are equals and is more supportive may thing that she is too passive. In either situation perceptions of the person are shaped by the way in which they communicate.
This may not be a problem for some, but without the understandign of the other gender's tendency it may cause skewed communication. When we attach to much meaning to the delivery of a message and not enough meaning on the content it can sometimes lead to miscoommunication and even stress surrounding the issue.
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It makes a lot of sense now after reading our text those men and women communicate differently. Somehow I knew all along that women tended to communicate more personable. I definitely agree when not only you, but our other classmates mentioned that because we tend to communicate a bit different that it could lead to some butting heads between the two sexes. I’m proud to say that I am apart of the female sexes where we are more comforting and we found everyone as an equal. It does stink for men, that when they are using too much opinion, they tend to seem egotistical. Maybe from now on we can try to be better about how we calculate what is coming out of the opposite’s sex mouth.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this piece in chapter 7 as well. Although the text spoke about men and woman having communication problems, this was something I already knew from having my first real boyfriend in high school. The context of how we say things and the misunderstandings that come from them are quite difficult to handle if not caught in time. It can ruin relationships and ultimately make you not trust the other sex. I’ve learned to definitely just pick my battles from now on!
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