The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

236 Chapter 7

men accommodate to each other. The sex dif-

ference in smiling, gazing, distance, and touch

is much larger when comparing same-sex dy-

ads to mixed-sex dyads. For example, the most

smiling will be observed between two women,

and the least smiling will be observed between

two men. Two females will stand closest to one

another, two males will stand farthest from

one another, and a male–female dyad will fall

somewhere in between. Sex comparisons in

nonverbal behavior also may be affected by

sexual orientation. One study examined the

nonverbal behavior of heterosexual, homo-

sexual, and mixed dyads and found that het-

erosexual dyads displayed the most gender

stereotypic behavior (i.e., open posture if male

and closed posture if female; Knofler & Imhof,

2007). In addition, heterosexual and homo-

sexual dyads engaged in more direct full-face

communication than mixed dyads, and mixed

dyads displayed fewer direct gazes and main-

tained shorter eye contact than heterosexual

or homosexual dyads. These findings suggest

there was greater discomfort in the mixed dy-

ads. The results are all the more interesting be-

cause participants were not made aware of one

another’s sexual orientation.

Smiling

Several meta-analyses indicate that females

smile more than males (Hall et al., 2000;

LaFrance & Hecht, 2000; LaFrance, Hecht, &

Paluck, 2003). The effect size seems to be

moderate, in thed=-.40 range. The sex dif-

ference appears to be largest among teenag-

ers (LaFrance et al., 2003) and not consistent

among children (Kolaric & Galambos, 1995).

An interesting study of female and male year-

book pictures spanning kindergarten through

college showed that the sex difference in

smiling became significant by second grade,

peaked in fourth grade, and persisted through

college (Dodd, Russell, & Jenkins, 1999).

These findings are cross-sectional, however,

making it difficult to determine if the effect is

due to age or to differences in smiling across

the generations. When a portion of the stu-

dents were followed over time, the same pat-

tern of results appeared suggesting that the

sex difference in smiling emerges over time.

Not all smiles are alike, however. Re-

searchers have distinguished between more

genuine smiles (Duchenne smiles) and false

smiles (non-Duchenne smiles), which can be

observed by the movement of specific facial

muscles. When college students role-played

the position of job applicant, females engaged

inmoreofbothkindsofsmilesthanmales

(Woodzicka, 2008). Interestingly, females were

aware of non-Duchenne smiles, but were not

aware of Duchenne smiles. Women said that

they engaged in non-Duchenne smiling to con-

ceal negative emotions, to show enthusiasm,

and to take up time so that they could come up

with a verbal response to a question.

There are several situational variables

that influence the sex difference in smiling.

First, the sex difference in smiling seems to be

limited to social settings and is especially large

when people know they are being observed

(LaFrance et al., 2003). Second, there is cross-

cultural variation in the sex difference, with the

largest sex difference appearing in Canada (d=

• .59) and the smallest sex difference appearing
  in Britain (d=-.13; LaFrance et al., 2003). Fi-
  nally, smiling seems to be more strongly cor-
  related with personality variables associated
  with sex, such as sociability, nurturance, and
  femininity, rather than sex per se (Hall, 1998).

Gazing

Gazing is a difficult nonverbal behavior to

interpret. In general, gazing is thought to

convey interest and attention; thus it is not

surprising that sex differences in gazing have

been found in the direction of women gazing

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