ABSTRACT
Men and women differ on numerous dimensions in the ways they communicate. Some of these dimensions have less to do with what they say to each other than with how they do it. Research on the values men and women place on different communication skills is equally unsupportive of the different cultures thesis. In one study, male and female research participants rated the importance of various communication skills in friendships and romantic relationships. The differences in the communication styles of men and women, as profound as they may be, do not appear to justify claims of representing different cultures. Instead, it may be that the differences in men's and women's socialization lead to predictable communication deficits. In other words, men and women are part of one culture in which differences in socialization foster the development of emotional support skills among girls but discourage them among boys.
