Voice Series: Who Is The More Talkative Gender?

It’s the age-old question. Wh0 is the more talkative gender? Hollywood depicts women as the chatterboxes, constantly going on and on about something that appears to be mundane and unnecessary. While the men give long speeches that are supposed to move nations and change policies and talk about sports over beer. So who of the two sexes talks more? Perhaps it’s neither, perhaps we both talk the same amount, let’s investigate.

In 2007, a study was published in Science Magazine that had participants wear voice recorders. 396 participants participated in this study to analyze the sounds and words that were voiced from each gender. The daily word uses were extrapolated from the tapes, and the data gathered showed that men and women both spoke an average of 16,000 words a day.

Here’s another interesting fact:

Psychologist Matthias Mehl of the University of Arizona says the three top talkers in the study — uttering up to 47,000 words a day — were all men. So was the most taciturn subject, who spoke only 700 words a day, on average.

So it seems as if the national myth that women are more talkative then men is completely false. According to a study published in the Daily Mail, the differences that determine the level of chatter between the two genders stem from the difference reasons in which men and women speak, and what they are most vocal about.

For instance, one of the reasons men may be more, or just as, talkative is a reflection on their need to control conversations, especially around women. Men also have a tendency to talk more about technology or sports for instance, while women speak out more on relationships and the occasional gossip.

The idea that men clam up? Not the case it seems! Men are more likely to talk more in certain social situations – with groups of people, or their significant others, even strangers. Women on the other hand chat a lot more when they’re with their friends or with children.

So it really has nothing to do with biology, in fact the study concluded that it was more cultural influences that determined how much we speak. When it comes to nature versus nurture, nurture appears to play a key role in our daily verbal interactions.

Through a little bit of digging, we’ve been able to dispel a bit of an age-old myth, popularized mostly through movies and mass media. In fact, there is no such thing as a more talkative gender. As a species, we both like to chatter just the same albeit on different topics and in different scenarios.  Just know that next time your wife tunes out when you talk about sports, or when his eyes seem to glaze over when you’re cooing about your co-workers newborn, it’s not because you are talking too much but rather that your talking may be off-gender!