The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

228 Chapter 7

on task outcomes because they are displaying

task-oriented behavior and female groups are

performing better on social outcomes because

they are displaying more positive social be-

havior. It would be more helpful to know that

task behavior contributes to better outcomes

in groups where the mission is to solve a prob-

lem and that positive social behavior contrib-

utes to better outcomes in groups that require

members to come to an agreement.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ There are differences in the styles women and men exhibit

when interacting in small groups. Women engage in more

positive social behavior (e.g., agreement), and men en-

gage in more task behavior (e.g., providing or asking for

information) and negative behavior (e.g., disagreement).

■ These differences are influenced by whether the group

is composed of same-sex or other-sex persons. In the

presence of the other sex, men and women accommo-

date to each other.

■ These differences also are a function of the nature of

the task. Both women and men exhibit more task-

oriented behavior in areas in which they have expertise.

■ These differences also are more commonly found in

laboratory studies of people who do not know each

other. Interaction styles among people in ongoing rela-

tionships may be influenced by factors other than sex.

Language

Imagine the following interaction:

Person A: I haven’t talked to you in so

long. What’s up?

Person B: I’ve been really stressed out

lately. Things are kind of weird at home.

than men (panel b). Thus men and women

behave most differently from each other when

they are with members of their same sex.

Sex differences in interaction styles also

tend to be greater when the interaction is brief

and among strangers (Aries, 2006). This is the

typical laboratory study. When we have little

information about others besides their sex, we

rely more on category-based expectancies (sex

stereotypes) when making judgments or de-

ciding how to behave. As people get to know

one another and understand each other’s abili-

ties, sex becomes a less important determinant

of interaction behavior. Is it possible that sex

also is a less important determinant of com-

munications in which sex is less visible—that

is, online communication? See Sidebar 7.2 for

a discussion of this research.

Implications of Interaction Styles for Performance

To the extent that women and men do have

different interaction styles, what are the im-

plications for performance? A group’s per-

formance may depend on the match between

the members’ interaction styles and the task

with which the group is faced. Groups that

have task-oriented goals will perform better

when members show task-oriented behav-

ior. Groups focused on a social activity or an

activity that requires consensus will perform

better if members display more positive social

behavior. Consistent with this idea, one study

found that male groups outperformed female

groups when the task required the generation

of ideas, and female groups outperformed

male groups when the task required the group

to reach consensus (Hutson-Comeaux &

Kelly, 1996). One limitation of these studies

is that sex—but not sex-specific interaction

styles—is being linked to group performance.

We assume male groups are performing better

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