Many writers believe that we must understand the

Many writers believe that we must understand the different gender-role expectations that
cultures have for men and women before we can understand their different nonverbal
behaviors. Such role expectations are primarily a function of culture, and as such can
change only as a culture changes. Writers describing U.S. culture say that expectations for
women in the United States are characterized by reactivity ; whereas, expectations for men
are characterized by proactivity . This means that women in our culture are expected to be
sensitive, responsive to others, emotionally expressive, and supportive. In contrast, men are
expected to be assertive, independent, self-assured, confident, and decisive.
Mehrabian (1981) suggests that the male in this culture is expected to have a dominant
social style; whereas, the female is expected to have a submissive social style. He concludes
that women generally have more pleasant, less dominating, and more affiliative social styles
than men. Males are more aggressive and dominant in their social styles. In a similar vein,
Henley ( 1977 ) and Eakins and Eakins ( 1978 ) suggest that nonverbal behaviors differ
between women and men because men in this culture generally have been in superior
positions and women have been in subordinate positions. Society expects subordinates
(women) to behave submissively (to perform the subordinate role) and supervisors (males)

to behave in a dominant manner (to perform the superior or assertive role). Other writers
are quick to note that the study of how sex differences might affect the way that people
communicate presents a difficult research undertaking (Canary & Dindia, 1998). They note
that many authors suggest that the differences between men and women are not as strong
or definite as once thought (Canary & Dindia, 1998). We hasten to note that we are not
advocating the desirability of such stereotypical gender-role identifications (after all, the
senior author of this book is female). Rather, we are presenting this information in the hope
of identifying where these stereotypes come from. Many people, both female and male, may
wish that such stereotypical norms would just go away, but they will do so only if the culture
changes sufficiently to make such stereotypical behavior dysfunctional in everyday life. That
has yet to happen.
The distinctive differences between male and female communication behavior seem to be
based on what are deemed the appropriate societal roles of women and men. Men tend to
be more assertive and women to be more responsive. Years ago, Bernard ( 1968 ) said:
“Women are expected to stroke others and give reassuring smiles and silent applause.”
Currently, there is still, whether we like it not, a strong cultural, societal bias for women to
be the supportive persons and men to be the assertive persons in this culture. Therefore the
stereotypical gender roles (assertive or responsive) may explain the gender differences
in nonverbal behavior. The remainder of this chapter reviews the differences in nonverbal