Are women really (not) more talkative than men? A registered report of binary gender similarities/differences in daily word use

Dados Bibliográficos

ID10157547
AutoresColin A Tidwell (0000-0003-1748-2440, University of Arizona, autor correspondente), Alexander F Danvers, Alexander Danvers (0000-0002-7307-9384, Sierra Engineering (United States)), Valeria A Pfeifer (0000-0003-1252-5050, University of Arizona), Danielle B Abel (0000-0003-0813-4655), Eva Alisic (0000-0002-7225-606X, The University of Melbourne), Andrew Beer (0000-0002-9255-3985, University of South Carolina Upstate), Sabrina J Bierstetel (0000-0002-3417-6069), Kathryn L Bollich-Ziegler (Seattle University), Kathryn L Bollich‐Ziegler (0000-0001-8194-8458), Michelle Bruni (University of California, Riverside), William R Calabrese (Renaissance University), Christine Chiarello (University of California, Riverside), Burcu Demiray (0000-0001-9933-6003, University of Zurich), Sona Dimidjian (0000-0002-6473-114X, University of Colorado Boulder), K L Fingerman (0000-0001-9260-9400, The University of Texas at Austin), Maximilian Haas (0000-0001-7237-9767), Deanna M Kaplan (0000-0002-9300-3029), Yijung K Kim (0000-0001-9450-8208, The University of Texas at Austin), Goran Knežević (0000-0001-8951-3774, University of Belgrade), Ljiljana B Lazarevic (0000-0003-1629-3699, University of Belgrade), M Luo (0000-0003-3179-212X, University of Zurich), Alessandra Macbeth (Azusa Pacific University), J H Manson (0000-0002-3049-2742, University of California, Los Angeles), Jennifer S Mascaro (0000-0002-6199-8455), Christina Metcalf (University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus), Kyle S Minor (0000-0002-6028-1487), Suzanne Moseley (0000-0002-8378-1003, University of Arizona), Angelina J Polsinelli (0000-0002-7738-9574, Indiana University School of Medicine), Charles L Raison (0000-0001-6687-0066), J K Rilling (0000-0003-4430-1377), Megan L Robbins (0000-0001-7114-9214, University of California, Riverside), David A Sbarra (0000-0001-6727-6552, University of Arizona), David Sbarra, Richard B Slatcher (0000-0001-6392-4161, University of Georgia), Jessie Sun (0000-0001-6764-0721, Washington University in St. Louis), Mira Vasileva (0000-0002-6575-0860, The University of Melbourne), Simine Vazire (0000-0002-3933-9752, The University of Melbourne), Matthias R Mehl (0000-0003-2698-5007, University of Arizona)
Ano2025
Volume128
Fascículo2
Páginas367-391
Data de publicação2025-01-13
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315
EditoraAmerican Psychological Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1037/pspp0000534
PMID39804347
OpenAlexW4406306302
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas5

Women are widely assumed to be more talkative than men. Challenging this assumption, Mehl et al. (2007) provided empirical evidence that men and women do not differ significantly in their daily word use, speaking about 16,000 words per day (WPD) each. However, concerns were raised that their sample was too small to yield generalizable estimates and too age and context homogeneous to permit inferences beyond college students. This registered report replicated and extended the previous study of binary gender differences in daily word use to address these concerns. Across 2,197 participants (more than five-fold the original sample size), pooled over 22 samples (631,030 ambient audio recordings), men spoke on average 11,950 WPD and women 13,349 WPD, with very large individual differences ( 120,000 WPD). The estimated gender difference (1,073 WPD; d = 0.13; 95% CrI [316, 1,824]) was about twice as large as in the original study. Smaller differences emerged among adolescent (513 WPD), emerging adult (841 WPD), and older adult (-788 WPD) participants, but a substantially larger difference emerged for participants in early and middle adulthood (3,275 WPD; d = 0.32). Despite the considerable sample size(s), all estimates carried large statistical uncertainty and, except for the gender difference in early and middle adulthood, provide inconclusive evidence regarding whether the two genders ultimately speak a practically equivalent number of WPD, based on the preregistered ± 1,000 WPD regions of practical equivalence criterion. Experienced stress had no meaningful effect on the gender difference, and no clear pattern emerged as to whether the gender difference is accentuated for subjectively rated compared with objectively observed talkativeness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)

Developmental psychology · Linguistics · Word (group theory · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Psychology · Social Psychology