Soc 333 - Common Differences and Strategies

Common Differences and Strategies

Soc 333

Professor Salamone

Kaitlyn Bryan

May 28, 2018

From a very young age, we learn that men and women are vastly different. There are even books about it, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, and many more. We all believe there’s a vast difference in the way we think, feel, act, etc. However, can and do those differences impact our communications with members of the opposite sex? They absolutely do. We’ve all been in a situation where someone of the opposite gender has said something or maybe even their body language portrayed a meaning they did not mean to say or portray. Men and women are vastly different in many different facets, however, that doesn’t mean they can’t learn to understand one another and the way they communicate.

In 2014 Steve Harvey came out with the golden goose of books for women. He starts off his book telling you he’s going to provide the fool proof road map to men. Is there really such a thing? To a degree, no. Each and every person is different and different circumstances for different people will produce problems and outcomes not even mentioned in his book. However, it does give you a basic understanding of the differences of men and women and how to better understand a man’s mindset from a woman’s perspective. He has a great example on the differences between men and women and what they become upset about and how they handle it. “At work a woman wears a new shirt and gets a lot of compliments on it and everyone just loves it. Her nemesis at work ask where she gets it, and she tells her it was on sale and so on and so on. The very next week that nemesis is wearing the same shirt. Of course as a woman, we’re upset. Why would you go out and buy the same shirt, seems a bit weird doesn’t it? Women like to talk about it a seethe about it for a bit, get their girlfriends involved in the discussion. If you were to have the same conversation with a man, he’d more than likely shrug his shoulders and just not wear it to work anymore.” (Harvey, 2014) If there’s a problem, men are more than likely going to find the quickest and easiest solution to solving the problem. Women like to have many different options provided for their choosing before settling on a particular outcome.

According to three communication scholars, Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson there’s a fundamental difference in men and women’s belief in the functionality and purpose of communication. Now, there are exceptions to every situations, but typically the generalization is that men tend to view communication as a content aspect. They approach conversations with the specific intent to impart information. In other words, they usually don’t talk unless there’s a reasoning behind it. However, that does not mean that every time a man speaks, he’s conveying information only. Every message carries content and relational meanings. Differing from men, women tend to view conversations as relational aspect. Relational aspect is conversation functioning more as a relationship than informational.