Who Use the Body Language More Men or Women?

Introduction

Body language is collated to be a form of non-verbal communication in humans that is commonly used by even those who are blind. This form of communication is said to be effected by pre-programming of the mind and it has the power influence other people’s thoughts and feelings about us. However, it is found out that men and women both use and interpret body language differently. This difference is claimed to arise from learned behaviors and biological differences. The later is argued that men’s brain is not similar in structure compared to those of the women’s. For example, it is argued that females happen to use both of their brain hemispheres to process language and also have the capability to coordinate the activities of the brain between the two hemispheres which is unlike men who use their left brain hemisphere only when communicating. The other side about learned behavior, the human brain is observed to change its structure based on the demands placed on it, hence, due to varying societal expectations on the roles of men and women, the difference in thinking make their brain structure become eventually different (Evatt, 1993: 116). Therefore, according to Carnes (2014), the body language becomes the solution or the answer to varying thoughts realized. More so, body language is also a form of communication that is immediate and ambiguous compared to one which is verbal. This paper attempts to determine which gender uses body language more is it the men or the women? To achieve this, the researcher borrows ideas from quantitative sources and employs them in conducting a qualitative study in this topic in order to compare the findings between these two sources. The study ends with a conclusion that sums up the findings.

The Research Question: Who Use Body Language More Men or Women?

Developing from the previous section, men and women have the tendency of using and interpreting body language differently. This is in terms of the signals used to show meaning and interpretation skills. Therefore, it becomes significant for one to understand the variations of this form of non-verbal communication when handling communication issues between men and women. Rodrigues (2005) constructs that the approaches that men and women use to communicate vary. For men, communication is primarily for solving problems and sharing information while for women, communicate to express their feelings and achieving intimate emotions and as a result, women use more body language than men do. This varying aspect of communication between men and women is acknowledged to have been evolving from close to 250, 000years ago during the Homo sapiens time to the present time, according to the changing human life styles. But despite the evolutions, their varying nature of communication has been maintained. Moreover, the more use of technologies like computers, is said to have limited the ability of the human mind to develop to fit the modern life style. Hence, this study attempts to answer the following research question: “Who uses body language more, men or women?

Research Methodology

Sokolov, Kruger, Enck, Krageloh-Mann & Pavlova (2011) inform that body language is a form of communication that is very rich in information meant specifically for social cognition. Nevertheless, studies on this form of communication are scarce. This study aims at filling this gap by using primary sources to determine how different men and women use body language. The study builds from ways that are collated to have high potentials in attracting use of body language both in men and women. These ways are behaviors and reasons for the behaviors. Those considered in this study are those that are experimented by Evatt (1993) which include: (i) sitting postures that show some sense of focus and connection (ii) eye contact engagement to show signs of intimacy or power dominance (iii) hand gestures and (iv) facial expressions and in particular smiling (119).

Population Sampling

For effective development of this study and in reference to the concepts borrowed from the secondary sources, the researcher opts to conduct a random study that secretly studies behaviors of men and women at a work place conversing and at a waiting room. In attempts to draw the right conclusions, this study focuses the behaviors of men and women when making negotiations or marketing for a period of one week. Thus, the researcher in this case studied television shows that help people find their partners from the opposite sex. Also, to add an in depth knowledge, the researcher also studied television shows that present a company’s system of hiring period to examine the behaviors of men and women while in search for a job.

Procedure of Collecting Data

At the dating firm, data was collected using video recordings of shows that capture body language behaviors of men and women right from the waiting room to the personal presentation stage. Procedure collected for studying behaviors of men and women in search for a job was similar to that of the dating firm. In the study, data collected at both experiments ensured that candidates at the waiting rooms are more than three and consists of men and women. Also, those interviewing candidates are of opposite sex. Hence, the total number of people observed for a week is approximately 30 and above.

Results

Table 1 shows the results obtained after classifying data into four categories as follows:

	Natural Behaviors Recorded of Humans Search of their Opposite Partner	Natural Behaviors Recorded of Humans Search of a Job
Categories	Men	Women	Men	Women
Sitting postures at the waiting room Sitting Postures at the Personal Presentation Room	Opened their feet wide Kept distance while sitting Sat on opposite direction	Crossed their feet Sat closely to a person sited next to Sat on side by side with the interviewer	Opened their feet wide Kept distance while sitting Sat on opposite direction	Put their feet together, also crossed their feet Sat on opposite direction
Hand gestures while at the waiting room Hand gestures during personal presentation	Hands away from their body Men used more hand gestures to express themselves and used the whole hand	Put hands next to their body Rarely used moved hands to make expressions and when used, moved arms up to the wrist breaking point	Hands away from their body Men used more hand gestures to express themselves and used the whole hand	Put hands next to their body Rarely used moved hands to make expressions and when used, moved arms up to the wrist breaking point
Eye contacts during personal presentation	Maintained eye contact more when talking and less when listening Rarely used eye gestures to express themselves	Maintained eye contact throughout while conversing Used different eye gestures to express themselves	Maintained eye contact throughout while conversing Rarely used eye gestures to express themselves	Maintained eye contact throughout while conversing Used different eye gestures to express themselves
Facial Expressions (Smiling) at the waiting room At the interview room	Smiled Smiled	Rarely smiled Smiled more	Smiled more Smiled	Rarely smiled Smiled more

Table 1: Results of data collected from behavioral experiment conducted at the dating and hiring firms

Data Analysis

In a scale of 0 to 2, 0 to imply rarely, 1 to imply maintenance, 2 selected to match the occasion; the results of Table 1 are consolidated in Table 2 as follows:

Categories	Men	Women
Sitting Postures	1	2
Hand Gestures	1	0
Eye Contact	1	2
Facial Expression (smiling)	1	2
Total	4 (40 percent)	6 (60percent)

Table 2: Consolidated results that show a percentage score that generally show variations in usage of body languages by men and women

Discussion

From the results presented by Table 1 above, generally indicate that women focus more on establishing connections than men do. Behaviors of men are generally open distancing. This is in terms of their hand gestures, eye contacts, sitting postures while women maintain a confined way of behavior that is characterized by closeness of hands, sitting close to another and keeping fit together. Stalter (2010) explains that men tend to use an open body language to show some sense of power, capability and confidence. For women, their power to influence others is said to be in their eye contacts and eye gestures. Unlike for men who are claimed to use eye contacts to show power, for women it is said to show attentiveness and engagement. In addition, men and women are articulated to share the same body languages while at a work place. For instance, like crossing feet, maintaining eye contacts or even shaking hands by holding firmly (191). Thus, from these facts, it is found that men generally maintain their body languages despite the occasion and women are able to use various types of body languages to match the occasion. Thus, according to Table 2, the percentage rate of using body language to show social cognition is 40% for men and 60% for women. Rugsaken (2014) adds that there are many forms of other body languages and are used differently in different in countries. For instance, facial expressions like smiles are more used by the Western countries than communities from the East. Eye contacts are praised in the Western countries while in Asian countries is a sign of disrespect. Also, eye gestures are not acceptable in countries like America but acceptable in countries like Japan. Thus, such differences can also be used to explain differences in the usages of body language to communicate by men and women.

Conclusion

The main goal of this study was to answer the research question: “Who uses body language more the men or the women? From the discussion it has been appreciated that body language is a programmed form of non-verbal communication that is culturally modeled according to societal expectations. However, the abilities to use this form of communication is dependent on the brain’s natural abilities of men and women and women have more abilities than men to use body languages that happen to match with a given social occasion.

References

Carnes, D. (2014). Do Men & Women Use Nonverbal Communication Differently? Retrievedhttp://www.livestrong.com/article/172581-do-men-women-use-nonverbal-communication-differently/.

Evatt, C. (1993). Opposite Sides of the Bed: A Lively Guide to the Differences between Women and Men: The Body Shop. Emeryoille: Conari Press. Retrieved< http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-djaMz8BS8QC&pg=PA116&dq=Who+Use+the+Body+Language+More+Men+or+Women%3F&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wjCFVKTdCYvuUpXBgeAB&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Who%20Use%20the%20Body%20Language%20More%20Men%20or%20Women%3F&f=false>.

Rugsaken, K. (2014). Body Speaks. Retrieved< http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/body-speaks.aspx>.

Rodrigues, L. (2005). Why Men and Women Speak Differently. Retrieved< http://learnbodylanguage.org/flirting_talk.html>.

Sokolov, A. A., Kruger, S., Enck, P. Krageloh-Mann, I. & Pavlova, M. A. (2011). Gender Affects Body Language Reading. Front Psychol, 2(17). Retrieved< http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111255/>.