The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Communication 239

One interesting arena in which to ex-

plore touch is sports. Here it is more accept-

able for men to touch one another. When

male baseball and female softball teams were

observed over 20 games, there were no sex

differences for the majority of the 32 kinds of

same-sex touch coded (Kneidinger, Maple,

& Tross, 2001). Among the sex differences

that did appear, they were typically in the

direction of females engaging in more

touching. Specifically, females were more

likely to engage in intimate forms of touch

with one another, such as group embraces.

The outcome of the event also influenced

sex differences in touch. After a positive

event, women and men were equally likely

to touch. However, after a negative event,

women were more likely than men to

touch—probably reflective of women con-

veying greater sympathy for one another.

Conduct your own observational study

of touch in Do Gender 7.3 to see what vari-

ables influence touch.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ There are fairly robust sex differences in nonverbal

behavior.

■ Women smile more, gaze more, are better able to ex-

press an emotion, and are better able to read another

person’s emotions.

■ The sex difference in touch depends on many factors,

including the target of the touch, the age of the par-

ticipant, and the relationship between the two people.

One reason findings are so variable is that touch has

many meanings; it can be used to indicate status or to

express intimacy.

Leadership and Influenceability

An important behavior that occurs in the con-

text of social interactions is interpersonal in-

fluence. Recall that one reason children play

with members of the same sex is that girls find

it difficult to influence boys. Does this diffi-

culty hold up among adults? Are men more

influential than women, and thus more likely

to become leaders? Who is susceptible to in-

fluence? First, I review who is influenced and

then who is influential and likely to emerge as

a leader in groups. I discuss the different lead-

ership styles and how female and male leaders

are perceived.

Who Is Influenced?

It turns out that dispositional characteristics do

not predict who is easily influenced as well as sit-

uational characteristics. Women may be more

easily influenced than men, but it is because

they find themselves in different situations than

those of men. People interact differently with

women than with men, and the interaction style

used with women leads to influence.

DO GENDER 7.3

Observational Study

of Touching

Conduct an observational study of touch-

ing. Choose a setting, for example, the

cafeteria, an airport, a mall, or a bar. Have

the class break into groups so each group

can observe a different setting. Record

instances of touch. Record the sex of the

initiator and of the recipient. Come up

with a list of other variables to record that

may help you understand touching, such

as type of touch, intention of touch, length

of touch, age of participants, and relation-

ship status.

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