Browsing by Subject "Communication and sex"
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Item Paper bullets of the brain(2010-12) Markarian, Sandra Suzanne; Beaver, David I., 1966-; Bannard, ColinUsing the social networking site Facebook as a corpus, I collected 1,500 random samples of interactions between friends. I tracked the use of jokes and disparaging humor between same- and opposite-gender pairs to discover that there is a strong correlation between the style of joke-making evoked by the speaker and the gender of both the speaker and the hearer. The men in the study were about eight times more likely to make insulting or degrading jokes with other men than the women were with each other. Following the study is a discussion where I address methods of politeness across genders, approaches to humor, and how sex, culture, and gender expectations influence our communicative choices. Though the discussion is based in our linguistic choices, the results of the study reflect trends that are present in countless aspects of society, and the issues that are raised go far beyond the spoken word.Item The influence of gender and power on persuation: a study of pharmaceutical sales representatives' interaction with medical personnel(Texas Tech University, 2000-12) Meadows, Amanda R.Sex and gender research attempts to answer two questions: (1) Are there any differences between men and women? and (2) If so, why do these differences exist (Lips, 1997)? Answering these questions not only contributes to further understanding of the sexes, but also helps identify how we, as citizens, can produce competent communication, that is communication that is both effective in achieving goals and appropriate to the persons present and the situation (Spitzberg & Cupach, 1984). The medical context presents many opportunities to observe and analyze the influences gender and power may have on how messages are constructed and perceived. Health professionals often work in small groups called health care teams in order to reap the benefits of "people . . . working together for a goal" (Kreps & Thornton, 1984). The Health care teams may include physicians, nurses, receptionists, patients, pharmacists, and pharmaceutical sales representatives- all team members working to provide quality patient care. In ths office setting, the physician is often regarded as the group leader and source of medical knowledge. Concurrently, nurses and receptionists perform the role of a "gatekeeper" (pp.131-132). Along with their other medical responsibilities, nurses and receptionists facilitate interaction between some group members while blocking interaction between other members. In order to maintain a positive socio-emotional climate in the group, they must monitor the communication in order to avoid any negative influences on the communication process.