Introduction Our study measured gender
differences in mixed-gender conversations as portrayed in two
popular television shows, Friends and Mad About You. Previous
research has shown gender differences in conversational style
as measured by frequencies of apologies, emotional
exclamations, expletives (Bayard & Sateesh 2001), and
interruptions (Okamoto, Rashotte, & Smith-Lovin 2002). The
results of our study indicated that the conversational styles
presented by these two popular television shows differed from
that of the spontaneous social conversations examined in
previous research. Method Procedure The frequency of each of
the dependent variables (See below.) was recorded during nine
scenes of mixed-sex conversations from each of the two shows.
We chose these two television shows because they are popular,
long-running, and attempt to portray modern American
lifestyles. We chose each of the scenes because both sexes
were represented and at least two or more people contributed
to the conversation. Scenes were chosen from one television
season for each show and ranged from approximately 1.5 to 3.5
minutes each. Inter-rater reliability on each of the variables
in 50 % of the scenes was obtained. Dependent Variables
Dependent variables were operationally defined as follows: (a)
Apologies were defined as the statements of regret for a past
action or current state. (b) Emotional Exclamations were
defined as an exclamation indicating surprise or heightened
emotion. Examples of these exclamations included “ouch”,
“oh.”, “wow”, “no, no” or gasping. (c) Expletives were defined
as swearing or words that are generally considered offensive.
A list of examples was generated before data collection began.
(d) An interruption was defined as a break in the continuity
of conversation by a second speaker. Analysis and Results A
significant Pearson Product Moment correlation (r(18) = .963,
p< .001) indicated adequate reliability between the two
observers on all variables. Statistical analysis (ANOVA’s)
indicated that, unlike the results of previous research, there
were no significant differences between the sexes on the
frequencies of interruptions (F(1,34) = 2.23, p = .145),
expletives (F(1,34) = .85, p = .363), apologies (F(1,34) =
1.94, p = .172) or emotional exclamations (F(1, 34) = .000, p
= 1.0: The sexes were exactly the same in frequency on this
variable.) Further, there were no significant differences
between the shows on any of the gender variables. This implies
that these popular shows do not accurately portray modern
American styles of conversation. The results of the
observations of these scripted conversations do not confirm
the results of previous research done on spontaneous social
conversation. The poster will provide information on the
demographics of the shows’ popularity and discuss implications
of the misrepresentations of typical gender language
interactions.
