Original scientific paper

Who cares about women’s talk? A field experiment

Lubomir Lamy ; Universite Paris Descartes
Nicolas Gueguen ; Universite de Bretagne-Sud
Jacques Fischer-Lokou ; Universite de Bretagne-Sud

Abstract

This study investigates reactions to female talk. Despite stereotypic knowledge of female talk as gossip, empirical data is lacking as to whether it may influence behavior. In a natural setting, participants (126 men and 124 women) unwittingly overheard a conversation about love or do-it-yourself. Results showed that the semantic content of the conversation had an effect on female listeners’ interest and later helping behavior, whereas it had no effect on male listeners. Contrary to previous findings, males did not display chivalrous helping. These findings may be related to males’ perception of female talk and to automatic goal processing.

Keywords

female speech; love; semantic induction; helping behavior

Hrčak ID:

128165

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/128165

Publication date:

1.9.2014.

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