A Study of Expressions of Gratitude:
Gender-Related Differences in College Students
Aimee Notingham
Josh Thorpe
Bryan Peterson
Abstract
In this study, the hypothesis tested was that females are more likely to express verbal
gratitude than males after being handed their meal from a server. Three observers recorded both
verbal and non-verbal expressions of gratitude from 55 females and 94 males waiting for their
food at the school’s Burger Hub. Some of the servers did not stand by the counter to hand the
food to the customer so one observer recorded the expressions of gratitude expressed after the
customer paid for their food instead. The results indicated that females expressed more gratitude
verbally than their male counterparts. However, the number of males to females observed was
not equal, the location of the responses varied, and because of the limited number of
observations, the hypothesis was inconclusive; further research is suggested.
Before children are born gender typing has already begun in many families. Mothers and
fathers alike begin picking out clothes and toys that fit their child’s gender identity. If they are
expecting a baby girl they might buy dresses, paint the baby’s nursery pink, and purchase toy
dolls. Mothers are often more involved in preparing for a baby girl. However, if parents are
expecting a boy the father is likely to be more involved and would most likely want his child to
be a “manly man;” he would want the room a darker color, would purchase a sportier attire, and
buy more “manly” toys. Just like gender identity, many people make the assumption that
females are more verbal than males. This may not be, due to the way people are raised but
simply because of the gender they are. Females have more estrogen than males and males have
more testosterone than females. These differences could contribute to the assumption that
females are more verbal than males when it comes to expressing gratitude. Assuming that being
a specific gender has an effect on ways of expressing gratitude, we decided to research this by
measuring the differences in expressions of gratitude between females and males on our campus.
To conduct this research, we chose to observe the expressions of gratitude given, if any,
after customers at our school’s Burger Hub received their food. Waiting for food happens often
for students at our school because of the busy lunch hours. We thought that observing people
waiting would get the best results because they order before and wait after, and it would test their
true character due to the wait period.
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Methods
Participant selection
The area we chose for observation was the Burger Hub in the food court. The particular
parts in the Burger Hub we observed were the cashier’s station and the counter where guests
picked up their orders of food. Our participants were chosen by random selection. We observed
anyone that was going through the line and that would be exposed to a gratitude-giving situation.
Most people were college students but there were some faculty members that went through the
line as well, giving our sample some age depth. There were a total of 149 people that we
observed (94 male, 55 female). The sample is large enough that we felt, even though there were
considerably more males, both genders were equally represented. To account for the gender gap
we did have, we broke down the data into percentages for males and females.
Procedures
For our observation, the active dependent variable was a situation in which gratitude is
common. In this case it was the reception of food from the person working at the Burger Hub
whose job it was to give the guest their food. The expression was our dependant variable, both
verbal and non-verbal expression of which. Our definition of gratitude was any verbal form or
non-verbal gesture, such as a head nod or wave, to the Burger Hub employee in thanks for the
reception of their food. The reception of an object from anyone is a common place for gratitude
to be given which is why we specifically chose the Burger Hub as our point of observation as
this is an everyday situation.
Our independent variable for our observation was the gender of the customer at the
Burger Hub. The dependent variable for the study was the gratitude or lack thereof shown to the
food server or cashier. The subjects would walk through the line and receive their food, thus
being introduced to the dependent variable (the situation of gratitude). At this point the person
would either walk off without giving any gesture of thanks toward the employee or they would
give the employee some gesture of thanks, whether it is verbal or non-verbal. The members of
our group sat nearby the food reception station or the clerk counter for our observation. We
decided to do this at different times to increase sample randomization and size. The length of
time in which we observed the transactions was near an hour per session individually for the
observer totaling three hours of observation. During this time we recorded the gestures of
gratitude, or lack thereof, on a data table. The data table was separated into males/females,
gratitude/non-gratitude, and verbal gesture/non-verbal gesture.
Results and Discussion
After the data was collected and analyzed we broke the information into response type by
gender and percentage for each response. This allowed us to see the verbal and nonverbal
differences between genders and also to see the variance within each gender as well. The data
supported our hypothesis by showing an overwhelming difference in verbal and no-response at
the Burger Hub. Men were much more likely to have no-response scoring a 49 %; the women
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had a no-response rate of 33%. Women were much more likely to have a verbal response of
gratitude toward the employees with 55% responding verses 33% of the males. However an
interesting side note is that the nonverbal response rates were very similar for males and females,
showing rates of 18% and 13% respectively.
Based on the data that we collected we concluded that our hypothesis was supported that
females are more likely to express verbal gratitude than males. Figures 1 and 2 show the
response rates for males and females in the study. Our results also found that the nonverbal rates
were similar between men and women. However certain conclusions cannot be made about our
data because of our wide gender gap. We collected data from 94 males and only 55 females.
Further research should expand on our sample size and have an equal number of men and women
studied. It may also be helpful to note the employees’ attitude towards the patrons; because
whether or not gratitude is shown to the customer may have a great effect on if the gesture is
returned to the employee. It may also be helpful to record the gender of the employee to
compare gender relations and the willingness to extend gratitude. Clearly further research is
needed but what has been accomplished is a good first step.
Figure 1
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Figure 2
Figures 1 and 2 shows the response makeup for males (figure 1) and females (figure 2). Figure 3
below shows the different percentages for verbal and nonverbal gratitude shown by men and
women.
Gratitude
Figure 3
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