Brain Biology and Gendered Discourse

• Published in: Applied psychology Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 338 - 378
• Main Authors: Case, Susan S., Oetama-Paul, Angela J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2015
• Subjects: Biology; Socialization; Women
• ISSN: 0269-994X; 1464-0597
• DOI: 10.1111/apps.12040

Despite the greater presence of women in the workforce, their organisational experiences remain different from many men's. Most explanations for this difference are based on cultural socialisation or power and dominance. This paper offers the role of brain biology as a missing mediating link explaining the persistence of gendered communication in organisational discourse. The way men and women talk in interactions is mediated by differences in their brain structure, function, and chemistry. This produces gendered communication styles influenced by biology. A biopsychosocial model explains the simultaneous effects that biology, psychology, and socialisation have on each other for understanding gendered discourse style persistence. Following a characterisation of talk, a primer on brain biology is provided in three areas: (1) structure including hemisphere asymmetry, corpus callosum size, and defined brain areas; (2) function including organisation for language and information processing, attention, and emotion; and (3) chemistry, linking each area of brain biology to examples of gendered discourse differences characterising normatively masculine and feminine discourse styles, and a wide‐verbal‐repertoire style (WVR), used by some men and women. We conclude with implications of brain science for “doing leadership” through discourse in the workplace, in any role, at any organisational level, and the value of such differences.