Gender differences in nonverbal correlates of social status

Abstract

Previous attempts to find the theoretically predicted association between nonverbal communication skills and social status have been inconsistent, especially among adults. It was hypothesized that these inconsistencies were produced by a failure of earlier research to differentiate the two genders and different emotions. Hypothesizing that various emotions may be differentially important in male and female friendships, the current study investigated the ability of 146 men and women to nonverbally communicate (encode) three emotions. Results showed that women are better able to encode happiness and that men are better able to encode anger. Additionally, ability to encode happiness is correlated with the sociometric status of women, whereas ability to encode anger is correlated with the sociometric status of men. Together, these results suggest that happiness and anger play different roles in the social lives of men and women.