Abstract
Mansplaining, the phenomenon of men degradingly explaining something to women, is
widely recognized in popular culture but has received little scholarly attention so far. To
address this gap, we conducted two studies to test the hypotheses that the better-than-average
effect and the interpretation bias can help explain why mansplaining occurs and is remarked.
Study 1 (N = 204) did not show that men think they know more than women, nor that men are
more likely to offer an explanation in conversations. Study 2 (N = 247) showed that women
are more likely to interpret an explanation as insulting than men, regardless of whether
the explanation was given by a man or a woman. The current study provides empirical
evidence to give mansplaining its proper conceptual grounding in communication theories
and shows that communication biases are a viable avenue to understand mansplaining and
similar communication phenomena.
widely recognized in popular culture but has received little scholarly attention so far. To
address this gap, we conducted two studies to test the hypotheses that the better-than-average
effect and the interpretation bias can help explain why mansplaining occurs and is remarked.
Study 1 (N = 204) did not show that men think they know more than women, nor that men are
more likely to offer an explanation in conversations. Study 2 (N = 247) showed that women
are more likely to interpret an explanation as insulting than men, regardless of whether
the explanation was given by a man or a woman. The current study provides empirical
evidence to give mansplaining its proper conceptual grounding in communication theories
and shows that communication biases are a viable avenue to understand mansplaining and
similar communication phenomena.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Psychology of Language and Communication |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2024 |