Degree Year
2016
Document Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Psychology
Advisor(s)
Paul Thibodeau
Committee Member(s)
Nancy Darling
Patty deWinstanley
Keywords
Power dynamics, Conversational dominance, Gender differences
Abstract
Previous studies have found that men exhibit more “dominance behaviors” (talking longer, interrupting more often) in conversation (Mast, 2002). Much of this work, however, has been conducted with conversation partners who are unfamiliar to each other. Our goal was to test whether the same pattern would emerge in conversations between friends. One possibility is that males are more dominant in conversation in general – both when talking to friends and strangers. A second possibility is that males are only more dominant in conversation when talking with strangers, which is what we predicted. Support for the second possibility would suggest that people are more likely to defer to social norms (in this case that men are more dominant) in contexts where information is more limited.
Repository Citation
Grubb, Caitlyn, "Power Dynamics in Conversation : The Role of Gender" (2016). Honors Papers. 231.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/honors/231
