Researchers of a study found that context of conversations and group size largely influence whether women talk more than me.
Common stereotype has it that women talk and gossip more than men. A new study begs to differ. Not entirely but to a certain degree! While it cannot be said that women talk less than men, researchers of the study found that context of conversations and group size are major influencing factors.
For the study, Northeastern professor David Lazer used sociameters to collect real-time data about the user's social interactions. Sociameters are small wearable devices that track conversation frequency and rate. A group of men and women were made to wear these devices for 12 hours. They were then split and placed into two different social settings.
In the first setting, masters degree candidates were asked to complete an individual project about which they were free to converse with one another for the duration of a 12-hour day. In the second setting, employees at a call-center in a major U.S. banking firm wore the device during 12 one-hour lunch breaks with no designated task.
At the end of the study, researchers noted that women were only slightly more likely to engage in long and short conversations than men when placed in the lunch-break setting. However, they were much more likely to engage in long and short conversations than men in an academic setting.
Researchers also noted that men did all the talking when groups were larger and women spoke more in small groups.
"In the one setting that is more collaborative we see the women choosing to work together, and when you work together you tend to talk more," said Lazer in a press statement. "So it's a very particular scenario that leads to more interactions. The real story here is there's an interplay between the setting and gender which created this difference."
This is not the first study that looks to break the stereotype of women talking more than men. A 2009 survey found that men spend an average of 76 minutes gossiping with their colleagues and friends, compared to only 52 minutes for women. Why? A 2001 study found that men tend to gossip more than women in order to boost their ego, according to The Telegraph. Another study conducted in the same year found that 80 percent of men's conversations comprise of gossiping. A study conducted in February this year confirmed previous findings that men gossip more than women. Researchers have found that gossip frequency also depends on the topic.
Men's favorite gossip topics are drunken friends, news, old school friends, female colleagues at work, the sexiest girl at work, spreading rumors, promotions, sexual relationships, salaries and the boss. Favorite gossip topics among women are other women, news, relationship problems, other people's relationships, sexual relationships, friend's weight gain, soap operas, other women's boyfriends/husbands, the mother-in-law and celebrities.
The study was published online in the journal Scientific Reports.
