Argumentativeness and Aggressiveness: The Flip Side of Gentle Persuasion

Abstract

This article explores the development and testing of two popular communication instruments: argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness scales. One measures the degree to which an individual engages in verbal attacks on another individual's position on some controversial topic, and the second measures the degree to which one engages in attacks on another's self-concept. The authors make recommendations about the use of the two instruments and present new evidence of their reliability and validity.