Our society believes that women are more talkative than men, but is this stereotype true? How do we know that men do not talk just as much and as often as women? If women do talk more than men, are they more likely to do so in the presence of other women? When, if at all, do men talk more often than women? By observing male and female college students in four different classroom settings, this study examined the differences in talkativeness between the sexes.
Methods.
Participants and Setting: Four classrooms were chosen for observation; all observations took place in various buildings throughout the University of Pittsburgh campus. The students enrolled in these courses were mostly undergraduates attending the university, all of who unknowingly participated in the experiment. The researcher examined the talkativeness of males and females in the four classroom settings; two of these classrooms were of larger size, and two were small. A female instructor taught one of the large classrooms and one of the small classrooms, and male instructors taught the other two classrooms. .
Procedure: For this study, it proved difficult finding four classes that fit the desired criteria. One of the two smaller classes had nearly twice as many females than males, but within the larger classes, the ratio was more evenly dispersed. Uncertainties did exist as to whether all student were present in class the day of the observation, so to allow for the collection of more accurate data, the researcher observed each class three times during the period of one week. Classroom 1 contained nineteen students, seven males and twelve females. The professor for this class was a male. Classroom 2 .
2.
contained seventeen students, nine females and eight males. The professor for this class was a female.