A Meta-Analysis of Trait–Behavior Correlations in Argumentativeness and Verbal Aggression

This article addresses controversy over the validity of two popular scales used to measure trait argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness. The first half of the article offers a rejoinder to the Infante, Rancer, and Wigley article. It is argued that original conceptualizations of the scales are l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of language and social psychology 2012-03, Vol.31 (1), p.95-111
Main Authors: Levine, Timothy R., Kotowski, Michael R., Beatty, Michael J., Van Kelegom, Martijn J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aggression
Aggressiveness
Argumentativeness
Behavioural sciences
Communication
Correlation analysis
Measurement
Meta-analysis
Personality traits
Prediction
Scale analysis
Social sciences
Systematic review
Validity
Verbal behaviour
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article addresses controversy over the validity of two popular scales used to measure trait argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness. The first half of the article offers a rejoinder to the Infante, Rancer, and Wigley article. It is argued that original conceptualizations of the scales are logically incoherent and lack empirical correspondence with research findings. The second part of the article offers a meta-analysis of scale–behavior and –nonbehavioral associations. The results show that research testing scale–behavior convergence is sparse and that the little research that currently exists is inconsistent with convergent and predictive validity. The Infante scales correlate consistently and to a greater extent with self-reported communication than with actual behavior, suggesting that the scales assess cognitive–affective rather than communication behavior tendencies.
ISSN:0261-927X
1552-6526
DOI:10.1177/0261927X11425037