Study: do women talk more than men?

You’ve heard the phrase “Chatty Cathy,” but what about Chatty Charlie? Are females really the chattier gender? New research results provide the answer.

Ask any married couple and you’ll hear it’s true: women talk more than men do.

Articles in Psychology Today, the New York Times and Newsweek back it up. They’ve all stated that women use about three times as many words each day. But until now, evidence to back up this claim has been scarce.

So scientists set out to find out how much truth there is to this urban legend. They spent six years recording the conversations of almost 400 college students in the United States and Mexico.

The researchers recorded the students using small electronically-activated recorders, or ears. The ears captured 30 second snippets of conversation and there was no way for volunteers to know when they were on or off.

Surprisingly, the results showed that men and women used the same number of words each day.

Women averaged a count of just over 16,000 words per day, while the men were just shy of the same mark.

So there you have it: men and women are equal opportunity talkers, and that’s the final word.