According to Joseph A. DeVito of Hunter College, when women talk about their personal relationships with men, they tend to be direct about what is going on in the relationship and their feelings. Men having these discussions are not as direct and often shy away from these types of discussions. However, men are more direct in their communication in other circumstances, such as when they want someone else to do something. In these cases, men will directly say what they want, while women are more indirect when making requests. Often women will make the request sound more like a suggestion so they are not seen as being too bold.
Although listening skills are an important part of building the relationship, men and women use these skills differently. According to Sarah Trenholm of Ithaca College, when women listen to someone speak, they tend to make a lot of eye contact, whereas men might not look at the person who is speaking to them. Women also use cues designed to indicate that they are listening, such as saying things like "yeah" and "uh-huh." Men generally do not use a lot of these cues when they are listening to someone.
According to Joseph A. DeVito, when women have problems, they feel more compelled than men to share this information. Also, when men and women listen to other people talk about their problems, they respond differently. When women listen to other people's problems, they are likely to try to show the other person that they understand how they feel. This is often done by talking about a similar problem that she has experienced. On the other hand, men will offer advice when someone tells them about a problem and they respond in a straightforward manner.
Self-disclosure is the process of revealing information to other people. Generally, women are more likely to self-disclose than men, according to authors Stewart Tubbs and Sylvia Moss. However, a man's willingness to self-disclose often depends on the situation. For example, men are more likely to disclose information about their families than women. On the other hand, women tend to disclose information about their previous romantic relationships to the men who they are involved with, but men might not do the same.
Also, men and women disclose differently based on how close a relationship is. Women tend to disclose more information about themselves when they become closer to another person. However, men generally disclose the same amount of information about themselves no matter how deep they feel a relationship is.