why do women talk so much?

[andyandy]

why do women talk so much?

Now the stereotypes have been given scientific substance, of a sort, by a bestselling book in the US, The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine, clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco. In her book, Brizendine claims that men and women are different because their brains function differently, and one of the most interesting examples she comes up with is that women talk more - 20,000 words a day compared with 7,000 for the average man - and they talk twice as fast.http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1957827,00.html

but hang, on, do women talk more than men?

Mark Liberman, professor of phonetics at the University of Pennsylvania, has turned the demolition of the women-talk-threetimes-as-much-as-men fact into a personal crusade. The 20,000 v 7,000 numbers that appear on the book jacket, he says, "have been cited in reviews all over the world, from the New York Times to the Mumbai Mirror". They are rapidly hardening into fact, but where do they come from?

Brizendine's book runs to 280 pages, of which almost a third are notes. Liberman was sure he would find "a reliable source for this statistic" among this battery of supporting data. Instead, according to a piece he wrote in the Boston Globe, all he found was an apparent attribution to a self-help book - Talk Language: How to Use Conversation for Profit and Pleasure by Allan Pease and Alan Garner. He was not impressed.

In the end, he concluded that the figures were probably based on guesswork, likening the "fact" that women talk more than men to the often stated "fact" that the Inuit have 17 words for snow. Both, he said, were myths. The Inuit actually have only one word for snow; and research shows only minute differences between the amount that men and women talk. "Whatever the average female v male difference turns out to be," he concluded, "it will be small compared to the variation among women and among men; and there will also be big differences, for any given individual, from one social setting to another."http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1957827,00.html

discuss :)

[Schneibster]

:popcorn2

[andyandy]

One male respondant, total words = 0 :D

[Eos of the Eons]

:eye-poppi :boggled:

Um. I should really read the whole article before replying, but...

I think women do verbalize faster, I know I talk so fast sometimes that even my teacher (a woman) misses most of what I say. She always tells me to talk slower, or repeat what I've said so she can hear what she missed the first time I spoke.

Also, women don't like quiet people, it seems. I would prefer to never talk, but I've been getting along with other women at work and school now that I make the effort to talk more, even if I don't like the subject matter. I also offer less opinions, and do more paraphrasing. Women like to agree on, and talk a subject to death (it seems). Having a differing opinion seems to make a person appear argumentative, and not as liking discussion. Arguing bad. Adding agreement is good. I think. This from someone (me) who is clueless in social situations.

Sorry if I'm stereotyping, and offering only my personal experience, but that's all I can add to this discussion. Any other thoughts, opinions?

[DanishDynamite]

Finally! Scientific documentation of something everyone already knew.

Sorry, did you say something, Eos?

:)

[Eos of the Eons]

My post is the longest in this thread, and probably typed the fastest.

[parrotslave]

There are talkative women and there are quiet women just like there are talkative men and quiet men. In my experience it isn't a gender specific behaviour.

I'm left wondering how they chose the subjects of their study. Perhaps more extroverted talkative women are more likely to volunteer to be test subjects?

[DanishDynamite]

My post is the longest in this thread, and probably typed the fastest.QED.

:)

[DanishDynamite]

There are talkative women and there are quiet women just like there are talkative men and quiet men. In my experience it isn't a gender specific behaviour.

I'm left wondering how they chose the subjects of their study. Perhaps more extroverted talkative women are more likely to volunteer to be test subjects?
You talk a lot. Are you female?

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Women talk twice as fast? I don't think so.

~~ Paul

[DanishDynamite]

Women talk twice as fast? I don't think so.

~~ Paul
They don't. It just seems like it. :)

[parrotslave]

I've found that people in the north of the U.S. talk faster than people in the south.

Do northerners' brains work twice as fast or is it just because when it gets cold they don't want to have their mouth's open for long?

[Eos of the Eons]

You would think the cold would cause everything to slow down. I guess that only holds true for lizards and other cold-blooded types?

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Most talk show hosts are men.

Woody Allen, a man who lives to talk and lives to talk about living, is a man.

John Edwards is a man and he's got a fast mouth.

There are quite men and quite women and talkative men and talkative women. There are also quiet and talkative hermaphodites and transexuals and everything else in between.

[Hokulele]

Boy, I would say that Prof. Brizandine and DD have never been to Japan. Or parts of the Middle East. Or . . .

[NoZed Avenger]

Hm.

[Dave1001]

:eye-poppi :boggled:

Um. I should really read the whole article before replying, but...

I think women do verbalize faster, I know I talk so fast sometimes that even my teacher (a woman) misses most of what I say. She always tells me to talk slower, or repeat what I've said so she can hear what she missed the first time I spoke.

Also, women don't like quiet people, it seems. I would prefer to never talk, but I've been getting along with other women at work and school now that I make the effort to talk more, even if I don't like the subject matter. I also offer less opinions, and do more paraphrasing. Women like to agree on, and talk a subject to death (it seems). Having a differing opinion seems to make a person appear argumentative, and not as liking discussion. Arguing bad. Adding agreement is good. I think. This from someone (me) who is clueless in social situations.

Sorry if I'm stereotyping, and offering only my personal experience, but that's all I can add to this discussion. Any other thoughts, opinions?

I just like that you're discussing social intelligence, a top interest of mine. I think in-group/out-group formations and intra-group heirarchies are often constructed using agreement matrixes, where the empirical validity of the topic of discussion is less important than demonstrating one's social intelligence by agreeing & disagreeing with the right people, situationally. Not just for women, but generally, although I suspect women employ them more in part due to what may be generally superior social intelligence relative to men.

I'm curious about published research in this particular area, and blogs on these type topics

[Cuddles]

If they stopped talking, their brains would start working.:dig:

[Soapy Sam]

Womens' mouths are smaller. So they use smaller words.
Smaller words contain less information.
So. To maintain the same average data transmission rate as a man...

...this isn't working, is it?

Cover me, while I break for the door.

[Orangutan]

Dunno.

[tracer]

Women talk twice as fast? I don't think so.
No, they only nag twice as fast.

[Solus]

No, they only nag twice as fast.

:duck:

[Bellatrix]

...somehow I don't beleive that women talk more then men. I have a hard time getting a word in edgewise with most men I know... Then again I hate to talk too much becouse I hate to beat a dead horse, heh maybe that's why I have more male frends then female ones... I don't know anymore :D

[MG1962]

Sidestepping all the sexist landmines and cluster bombs laying around, may I offer the following

Women do talk more often, and use more complex language to put context across. In far distant times, while the men where out hunting and doing whatever you do on the hunt. Women were responisble for holding the tribe together, keeping food organised, planning the day, and perhaps most importantly educating children.

Men on the other hand have a bias to less complex speech and far more non verbal signals. Again on the hunt. Very complex ideas had to be passed around the hunting party while not alerting the intended prey to their presence.

Sure there are exceptions, as people have pointed out. But by and large it is a hard wiring issue rather than gender assignment in society

[JC Fla]

I tried to ask this question of my wife, but I could not get a word in edgewise. So....

:duck:

[MG1962]

See ya should have read my post

Hand signals -stumps everytime :catfight:

[Francesca R]

Why do men listen so little, despite having much more non-talking time at their disposal?

[Belz...]

My post is the longest in this thread, and probably typed the fastest.

nonensne eos.! mine is tyyped much faste rand i iddn't evewn spellcheck!!!

[Momzahippie]

I find it disturbing to know that a book used a statistic with so little proof behind it, but mostly that so many sources quoted the book without ever checking the study used. It seems to me like someone should have said "are you sure that's right?" Just using some logic, it would seem very unlikely that women talk 3 times more than men.

[mijopaalmc]

I think that this might be a reasons women are perceived to talk so much, and this research has been around since 1978:
Many situations are not clearly sex categorized to begin with, nor is what transpires within them obviously gender relevant. Yet any social encounter can be pressed into service in the interests of doing gender. Thus, Fishman's (1978) research on casual conversations found an asymmetrical "division of labor" in talk between heterosexual intimates. Women had to ask more questions, fill more silences, and use more attention-getting beginnings in order to be heard. Her conclusions are particularly pertinent here:
Since interactional work is related to what constitutes being a woman, with what a woman is, the idea that it is work is obscured. The work is not seen as what women do, but as part of what they are. (Fishman 1978, p. 405)
We would argue that it is precisely such labor that helps to constitute the essential nature of women as women in interactional contexts (West and Zimmerman 1983, pp. 109-11; but see also Kollock, Rlumstein, and Schwartz 1985). source (http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0891-2432(198706)1%3A2%3C125%3ADG%3E2.0.CO%3B2-W)

[Geckko]

Why do men listen so little, despite having much more non-talking time at their disposal?
I get that from my wife.

As I tell her. I listen intently to what you say. I have immense difficulty comprehending what you mean.

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Women don't talk too much at all. See how silent I've been on this thread?:)

[DmKrispin]

Asking "Why do women talk so much?" assumes that the amount of talking men supposedly engage in is the acceptable or normal amount.

Maybe the question should be "Why do men talk so little?"

[hgc]

Anecdotally speaking, the #1 complaint I hear from women about men on first dates is when the man talks endlessly about himself. (Of course the real complaint is that the man doesn't pull down enough scratch.)

;)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Most professional talkers- talk show hosts, radio personalities, stand up comedians, pundits, commentators etc.- are men.

Here's a list of people who just won't shut up:

Rush Limbaugh- man.

Sanjaya Malakar- man.

Dane Cook- man.

[Soapy Sam]

I bet all their mothers were women though.

[Begs Embrace]

This is my personal theory....

As a woman, I have a quota of words that must be expelled from my mouth every day. If it doesn't come out in one day, the remainder carries over to the next day and so forth.

Also, from my experience... when I ask Mr. Clueless a question he usually answers with total silence. It makes me want to knock on his brain and ask "Hello, anyone in there?"

Granted, I have met some males who love to talk which leaves me with another dilemma.... it's impossible to release my daily quota. Oh pity the man who has to deal with my overload of verbal dumping.

Again....this is just my personal theory. But I'm lovable.

:words:

[UnrepentantSinner]

I've found that people in the north of the U.S. talk faster than people in the south.

Do northerners' brains work twice as fast or is it just because when it gets cold they don't want to have their mouth's open for long?

Hispanics...

[hcmom]

* hcmom thinks she'll not comment about this.

[BPScooter]

I just had an odd thought that I'll try to frame here. With a lot of *If* in front :

If there is a difference in brain that leads to this difference in verbosity
If there was time in evolutionary terms for the genders to separate
If the roles played (hunter male vs. gatherer/teacher/nurturer female) had an impact on the differentiation
THEN
what about going further? Were the first scribes men? Were the first Babylonian or Egyptian or Mayan "passers on of knowledge through writing" men? or women? I think it was probably men, just guessing.
Could this then have been some sort of ultra-speedy social/sexual selection of the unfit hunters, with a strange sort of retribution attached?

You see where I'm going here. I'm a wordy yet nerdy male with poorish eyesight...couldn't hunt an insect in a paper bag...but my ancestors' success predisposed my kind through their survival and procreation, with the payoff being the prehistoric equivalent of auditing your taxes, or grading your paper, or letting Jesus himself get a meeting with Dick Clark, or fixing your computer. Also, what might these guys have been doing while all the he-men were out hunting... hmmm? All those women who want to talk a while... and why do poets have such a bad reputation, anyway?

Somehow I think I'll stride more confidently into tomorrow's social interactions knowing my caste is here for a reason.

:-)