Abstract
A content analysis of 32 novels by men and 32 novels by women examined the following aspects of the writer's description of the characters: nonverbal behavior and expression, appearance, personal attributes, and positive and negative emotions. Counts of references in various categories were made, as well as vividness ratings. The ratings were reliable, and the data had an easily interpreted factor structure. Only one variable showed a significant difference between male and female authors: men wrote more vividly about the face than women did There were some historical trends in the description of nonverbal behavior and emotion.
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This study was supported by a Biomedical Research Support Grant from the National Institutes of Health to Johns Hopkins University and by funds from the Department of Psychology and Social Relations, Harvard University. Appreciation is extended to Francine Bilzor for her extensive help in tabulating the data and to Bella DePaulo and Fred Gordon for their helpful comments.
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Hall, J.A., Aist, M.B. & Pike, K.M. Nonverbal behavior and person description in men's and women's prose. J Nonverbal Behav 7, 213–222 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986267
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00986267