Verbal Aggression As A Function Of The Receiver’s Argumentativeness

AbstractA trait approach to understanding argumentative communication is explained. Research is reviewed which suggests arguing is associated with a number of non-trivial effects. A need is then developed for determining whether more argumentative individuals are more likely to receive verbally aggressive messages. A study is reported in which 17 4 subjects, classified according to sex, considered a persuasion situation where the person to be influenced, the receiver, was described as either a high, moderate, or low argumentative. Subjects then considered a variety of messages for the situation, including a set of four which were verbally aggressive, and indicated likelihood of personal use in such a situation. Analysis of variance results revealed significant main effects for sex of the subjects (males had the greater preference for verbal aggression) and the receiver's argumentativeness (the more argumentative receivers attracted the most verbal aggression). However, the significant interaction of these two variables revealed that the hypothesis was supported for males, but not females. Males preferred more verbal aggression with more argumentative receivers, while females preferred verbal aggression less and did not differentiate use according to the argumentativeness of the receiver. Implications of the results are discussed. Additional informationNotes on contributorsDominic A. InfanteDominic A. Infante is professor of speech commuinication; Cheryn Heinen Wall, Carol J. Leap, and Kenneth Danielson are doctoral students in speech communication at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.Cheryn Heinen WallDominic A. Infante is professor of speech commuinication; Cheryn Heinen Wall, Carol J. Leap, and Kenneth Danielson are doctoral students in speech communication at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.Callol J. LeapDominic A. Infante is professor of speech commuinication; Cheryn Heinen Wall, Carol J. Leap, and Kenneth Danielson are doctoral students in speech communication at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.Kenneth DanielsonDominic A. Infante is professor of speech commuinication; Cheryn Heinen Wall, Carol J. Leap, and Kenneth Danielson are doctoral students in speech communication at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44242.