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Hostility and verbal aggressiveness. Hostility is the more global destructive
communication trait and includes messages that communicate irritability, negativity,
resentment, and suspicion (Costa & McCrae, 1980; McCrae & Costa, 1999). While
hostility has obvious communicative consequences, verbal aggressiveness has received
more attention in communication literature.
Infante and Wigley (1986) conceptualize verbal aggressiveness as an “attack on
the self-concept of another person, instead of, or in addition to, the person’s position on a
topic of communication” (p. 61). Infante and Wigley delineated ten distinct types of
verbally aggressive messages: character attacks, competence attacks, physical appearance
attacks, background attacks, maledictions, teasing, ridicule, threats, profanity, and
nonverbal emblems. These ten types can be used by themselves or in conjunction with
other types of verbally aggressive messages to attack an individual’s self-concept.
Whereas argumentativeness is the communication trait that measures an individual’s
desire to argue over controversial issues, verbal aggressiveness is the communication trait
that measures an individual’s use of messages that transcends discourse about an issue
and extends the attack to the other interlocutor(s).
Aggressive communication as both trait and state. Aggressive communication
has been viewed from a personality trait perspective. Personality traits are predilections
towards certain types of communication that stays reasonably consistent across time and
situation. Infante (1987) found that communication traits, more specifically
argumentativeness and verbal aggression, are important because they have significant
explanatory capabilities with regard to both communicative behaviors and perceptions.
Convention