Listening Styles: Sex Differences in Perceptions of Self and others

Abstract

Do men and women differ in their listening styles or, perhaps, do projections of sex differences primarily reflect cultural stereotypes? Consistent with previous research the data at hand reveal a pattern of sex differences in listening style self-perceptions with women scoring themselves higher on the people listening style and men scoring themselves higher on the content listening style. Also, supporting expectations built from the dual-process theories of person perception, the findings suggest that perceptions of “peers” listening styles are anchored by gender stereotypes. However, inexplicable evidence of systematically biased response tendencies in reporting listening styles also emerged. The implications of these findings for future research and application are discussed.