I believe culture affects this, but I think more than anything it is the aspect of familiarity with someone that will affect how you communicate with him, gender plays a role in all of this. I can agree with that, but I don't think it's safe to say that in general, men and women act a certain way when communicating. Another aspect covered in our book is that of gender and the roles that each gender plays in different cultures. I find it fascinating that many of these things seem to be true in all cultures: the woman is seen as the nurturer, caregiver, cook and basically takes care of the whole house while the man goes out and works to provide for the needs and take care of him. THE