Cutting in with a few words about that fertile field for interruptions, BiosphereII
In speculating recently about the potential for sexual liaisons and conflicts aboard Biosphere II, in which eight people are to be isolated for two years, I referred to a study of conversations between men and women which showed that men interrupt 96% of the time.
I commented: “I can’t imagine four young women in Biosphere II allowing themselves to suffer 96% of the interruptions over a two-year period. After about one year of that, I should think, the women would start interrupting back. . . . “
I had an idea that the results of that study would be challenged and misinterpreted.
I was quoting from an article by John Pfeiffer in the February issue of Science 85. The study was made by sociologists Candace West and Don Zimmerman of the University of California. My figures were correct: In conversations between men and women, men made 96% of the interruptions; in single-sex conversations, the interruptions were equally divided.
Not only did men interrupt more often, but also they did more talking; they not only interrupted, they grabbed the conversational ball and ran with it.
“Maybe I’m oversimplifying,” writes L. E. (Ed) McCarthy (“The World’s Greatest Fighter Pilot”), “but how else would one be able to voice an opinion if not by interrupting?
“After all, women talk 100% of the time (especially if there’s more than one woman in the conversation), and the only way the poor male can be heard is to interrupt. . . . “
“The statistics about conversational interruptions are misleading,” writes Gordon Matthews of Torrance, “if they are taken to imply that men talk more than women. Men interrupt 96% of the time because otherwise women would talk 100% of the time. A man usually utters a brief expression, stops, and permits the conversation to roll on without interruption. About 2% of the time a man will attempt a syllogism, only to be cut off before the conclusion. This is why Socrates took to the streets. A medium-lunged woman made Cicero seem short-winded.”
Obviously Matthews and the World’s Greatest Fighter Pilot (“There I was, at 30,000 feet . . . “) still believe the myth that women do most of the talking. It’s almost as beloved as the notion that John Wayne didn’t have any sexual hang-ups. Movies are still full of self-indulgent wives or mothers-in-law who yakety-yak non-stop until someone pushes them backward into the swimming pool.
The West-Zimmerman studies (and other studies in the field) show not only that men do most of the talking and make most of the interruptions, but they also choose the subject matter most of the time. Pamela Fishman, a public relations consultant, found that men started conversations 29 times and kept them going 28; women succeeded only 17 times out of 47.
That is why, Fishman suggested, women so often open a conversation by saying, “D’ya know what?” This is a rather sad attempt to get the male’s attention and commitment.
“In fact,” Fishman said, “the women asked more than 70% of the questions.”
Is it true that women tend to listen to men, while men turn off when women are talking?
If so, then women must go through their lives in a state of almost constant boredom. The male conversation recorded by West and Zimmerman is stultifying in its banality. Part of the tape goes like this:
“Andrew: It’s about time that my family really went on a vacation (pause) y’know my father goes places all the time (prolonged syllable) but he y’know goes on business like he’ll go ta Tokyo for the afternoon ‘n he’ll get there at (stammer) at 10 in the morning ‘n’ catch a 9 o’clock flight leaving (two-second pause).
“Betsy: That sounds fantastic (pause) not everybody can just spend a day in someplace (interruption).
“Andrew: Well, we’ve already established the fact that um y’know he’s not just anyone (eight-second pause).
“Betsy: Don’t you I (stammer) well it seems to me you you you probably have such an um interesting background that you must y’know have trouble finding um people uh like to talk to if you (interruption).
“Andrew: Most definitely. . . .”
Andrew sounds like a runaway bore. But he gives Betsy her chances. With those long pauses he’s saying, “Stop me, before I kill again!” And she blows it. Instead of taking the ball and telling him about her innermost dreams, she gives him the old let’s-talk-about-you routine and says what interesting folks he has.
She deserves to be interrupted.
It may be that West and Zimmerman listened only to men and women who were unable to carry on an intelligent conversation, or were inhibited from doing so by the knowledge that they were being taped.
Even so, I have an idea that their findings are sound--that men do dominate the conversation and interrupt more often.
I wouldn’t think of taping a conversation between me and my wife, but, from memory, a conversation at dinner might go like this.
“She: There’s a story in the paper about Chinon. Do you remember Chinon?
“He: Did you read Sports? Magic Johnson hit an 80-foot basket.
“She: Chinon is the town where Jacqueline went to school. In the Loire Valley. Remember? . . .
“He: Do you have any idea how far 80 feet is?
“She: Don’t you remember the beautiful chateau? I think we went with Annette and. . .
“He: That’s more than three-quarters of the length of the court. Can you imagine a guy actually making a basket from that far out?
“She: D’ya know what?
“He: No. What?
“She: You’re not listening.”
Well, that really was some shot.
