A First Look At Communication Theory, 10e (Griffin)
Chapter 31 Genderlect Styles
1) Tannen says that, more than anything else, women seek:
A) control.
B) human understanding.
C) human connection.
D) status.
2) Tannen says that, more than anything else, men are concerned mainly with:
A) control.
B) human understanding.
C) human connection.
D) status.
3) In her book Gendered Lives, Julia Wood draws upon research with children to highlight the
different rules that girls and boys learn as they grow up. Identify a key rule that boys learn.
A) Use talk to solve problems or develop a strategy.
B) Involve others in conversations and respond to their ideas.
C) Use communication to create and maintain relationships.
D) Show sensitivity to others and to relationships.
4) In her book Gendered Lives, Julia Wood draws upon research with children to highlight the
different rules that girls and boys learn as they grow up. Which of the following is a key rule that
girls learn?
A) Communicate to assert their ideas, opinions, and identity.
B) Use communication to create and maintain relationships.
C) Use talk to solve problems or develop a strategy.
D) Speak in a way that attracts attention to themselves.
5) Women listening to a story or explanation tend to:
A) avoid eye contact so as not to embarrass the speaker.
B) offer head nods.
C) avoid putting themselves in a submissive stance.
D) avoid eye contact and offer head nods.
6) In the context of a research study conducted by Deborah Tannen, identify a true statement
about cooperative overlap.
A) From a woman’s perspective, it is a sign of a competitive ploy to control conversations.
B) From a man’s perspective, it is a way of putting himself in a submissive stance.
C) From a woman’s perspective, it is a sign of rapport.
D) From a man’s perspective, it is a way of annoying women during conversations.
7) Women ask questions to:
A) solicit information.
B) establish a connection with others.
C) change the topic of a conversation.
D) show competence.
8) When studying the interactions between moms and kids during a free-play session, Louise
Cherry Wilkinson and her colleague Michael Lewis found that mothers of boys, unlike mothers
of girls, ________.
A) talked more
B) used longer sentences
C) were more likely to use directives
D) were more likely to acknowledge their children’s comments
9) According to Tannen, the first step in overcoming destructive responses is to:
A) understand each other’s style and the motives behind it.
B) learn to talk as the other gender.
C) alter the destructive communication pattern of males.
D) teach women to be more assertive and men to be more sensitive.
10) Carol Gilligan’s book In a Different Voice presents a theory of moral development claiming
that women tend to think and speak in an ethical voice different from that of men. Gilligan is
convinced that:
A) men’s moral reasoning is more likely to reflect Martin Buber’s call for genuine I-Thou
relationships than Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative.
B) men base their ethical decisions on a strong sense of responsibility to prevent pain and
alleviate suffering.
C) most men regard their ultimate ethical responsibility as one of “care.”
D) most men seek autonomy and think of moral maturity in terms of “justice.”
11) Tannen claims that conversations between men and women reflect men’s conscious efforts to
dominate women.
12) Tannen believes that male-female conversation is inherently cross-cultural communication.
13) According to Julia Wood, girls learn to involve others in conversations while boys learn to
use communication to assert their own ideas and draw attention to themselves.
14) Tannen believes that both men and women are primarily interested in human connection.
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15) Women value report talk, whereas men value rapport talk.
16) Tannen’s research indicates that women talk less than men do in private conversations.
17) Women tell more stories and jokes than men do.
18) Deborah Tannen notes that when women state their opinions, they often tag them with a
question at the end of the sentence.
19) According to Tannen, women who verbally share problems with men are looking for the gift
of understanding and they do not want advice.
20) “Tag questions” soften the sting of potential disagreements that are likely to drive people
apart.
21) ________ is defined as a term suggesting that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are
best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects.
22) When a woman who is listening starts to speak before the other person is finished, she
usually does so to add a word of agreement, to show support, or to finish a sentence with what
she thinks the speaker will say. Deborah Tannen labels this ________.
23) A subjective standard ascribing validity to an idea when it resonates with one’s personal
experience is called ________.
24) Compare and contrast the way men talk with the way women talk. Which is better? Why?
25) Tannen does not believe that there is a male plot to dominate women. Do you agree or
disagree with her?
26) Does knowledge of Tannen’s theory make us better or worse communicators? Explain
briefly.
27) In what way could Tannen’s theory become self-fulfilling prophecy? Is this good or bad?
28) What is Tannen’s training/discipline? How does that impact her theory?
29) How might Tannen critique Ting-Toomey’s face-negotiation theory?
30) Tannen claims that “male-female conversation is cross-cultural communication.” If this is so,
then the three theories presented in the intercultural section of this textbook should shed light on
the ways in which men and women talk to each other. What do you think?
31) If the two genderlects are truly equal, would Tannen favor any form of accommodation or
divergence in keeping with Giles’ assumptions about the need for inclusion or distinctiveness?
32) Compare Tannen’s approach to relational communication with that developed by Baxter and
Montgomery.
33) Do you believe that differences in gender has a greater impact on communication than
differences in culture do?
34) What might Mead and his followers have to say to Tannen?
35) Do cultural factors complicate Tannen’s findings? In other words, how might the interaction
of culture with gender potentially challenge some of Tannen’s conclusions? If possible, give an
example from your experience, literature, or film to support your response.
36) Based on Fisher’s standards, does Tannen tell a good story regarding the communicative
experiences of men and women?
37) From Deborah Tannen’s perspective, the desire for connection is a female trait. If this is the
case, what other theories might be characteristically more feminine and what theories, where
status is important, might be classified as masculine?