This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Coats, E. J. Articles by Feldman, R. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Coats, E. J. Articles by Feldman, R. S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Gender Differences in Nonverbal Correlates of Social Status

University of Massachusetts at Amherst ercoats{at}vassar.edu

Robert S. Feldman

University of Massachusetts at Amherst

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.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?