Men out-talk women in large settings

Contrary to the stereotype that women talk more than men, researchers have found that there is an interplay between the context and gender and men can out-talk women in large settings, but women do the most talking in small settings.

"In the one setting that is more collaborative we see the women choosing to work together, and when you work together you tend to talk more," said professor David Lazer from Northeastern University in the US.

When the groups consisted of six or more participants, it was men who did the most talking, the findings showed.

"So it is a very particular scenario that leads to more interactions. The real story here is that there is an interplay between the setting and gender which created this difference," said professor David Lazer from Northeastern University in the US.

Using the so-called "sociometers" - wearable devices roughly the size of smartphones that collect real-time data about the user's social interactions - the researchers found that context plays a large role.

For their study, the research team provided a group of men and women with sociometers and split them in two different social settings for a total of 12 hours.

They found that when the setting was small women were more likely than men to engage in conversations, but when the groups consisted of six or more participants, it was men who did the most talking.

The study appeared in the journal Scientific Reports.