Men and women differ in the way they listen. Men rely more heavily on one side but women on the other side appear to use both sides of the brain. (Indiana University,2000) Both genders differ in terms of what they focus on when listening; men focus on the facts when women focus on “the mood of the communication”.( Canary and Hause,1993) Men often dominate conversations in public, even when they know less about a subject compared to women, because they use conversation to establish status. Women, on the other hand, often listen more because they have been socialized to be accommodating. These patterns, which begin in childhood, mean, for instance, that men are far more likely to interrupt another speaker, and not take it personally when they are themselves interrupted, while women are more likely to finish each other’s sentences . (Tannen, 1990) When women listen, they tend to maintain fairly steady eye contact. They often smile sporadically, nod their heads and make humming sounds. In ...
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