Women are no chattier than men
Women in search of the prototypical male - the strong, silent type - will be disappointed to learn that scientists have uncovered why they're so hard to find.
Their numbers are scarce.
Despite prevalent societal stereotypes, scientists report that women and men are equally talkative.
The study, published online yesterday in Science Magazine, recorded the conversations of 400 university students over several days and found that, on average, men and women both speak about 16,000 words a day. Individuals ranged from 700 to 47,000 words per day.
"I was surprised by the results," said Matthias Mehl, a professor of psychology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, and lead author of the study. "We all approached it with the idea that all women talk more than men."
While the study deals only with how much men and women talk, Mehl also found some robust sex-specific differences he plans to publish later. "Men talk about technology, sports and money. They use more numbers," Mehl said. "Women talk about fashion, but also about relationships."
Now I know you really can't go just by personal experience, and this was apparently a scientifically controlled experiment and all, but those results really do seem to fly in the face of everyday life.
It says men and women alike speak about 16,000 words a day. Hell, I know a family of girls who can do about 16,000 words in an hour.
5 comments:
Aha - another stereotype laid to rest!!!
You don't know my guy friends. They talk as much as 14-year-old girls! lol
No way are those numbers true. NO WAY!
Either way, 16,000 words a day sounds like a lot.
haha jbk you can talk about 10,000 words a day with your stories alone! :)
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