title: Gender, gender relations, and the social dynamics of children's conversations.
abstract: The authors investigated the effects of gender on the social dynamics and outcomes of conversations involving 120 children (mean age = 8 years 7 months). Children were taught particular values for different shaped counters and placed in same-gender or mixed-gender pairs with children who were taught different values. Pairs were asked to add the counters together to make a total of 100. Conversations were coded in terms of communication acts and simultaneous speech acts. Boys used more controlling acts overall and more negative interruptions in mixed-gender pairs. Girls used more affiliating acts. All children used more collaborative communication in same-gender pairings. Children whose perspective dominated used more controlling and comparatively fewer affiliating acts. When children reached a compromise, conversations were more collaborative.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK. Patrick.Leman@rhul.ac.uk
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Leman
authors.forename: Shahina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Louise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ozarow
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D011340:Problem Solving; D012919:Social Behavior