Cognitive basis of gender communication: A cross‐cultural investigation of perceived constraints in requesting

There has been a significant discussion regarding the similarities and differences in communication styles between females and males. If the stereotype is true that men use language “to assert a position of dominance” by coming directly to the point (clarity), whereas women use language to create and maintain relationships of closeness, this should be reflected in a differential preference for conversational constraints. Cross‐situational goals (i.e., conversational constraints) serve as criteria for making a choice between tactics in the pursuit of interaction goals. Focusing on five conversational constraints, this study compared the ways in which conversational constraints are perceived across gender groups. Two main questions structured this research: (1) Do males and females differ significantly in their perceived importance of conversational constraints? (2) Is there cross‐cultural consistency in the findings? The results showed that participants' sex did not have any significant main effect on the perceived importance of all five conversational constraints in any of the four cultures studied. Even though many researchers have claimed gender differences in verbal styles (i.e., power, politeness, directness), males and females are relatively homogeneous in their self perceptions of preferred conversational styles across cultures.