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consequences on the perception of verbally aggressive messages. Verbally aggressive
messages from ingroup members would arise from contextual considerations, and thus be
underreported; while verbally aggressive messages from outgroup members would arise
from constitutive considerations, and as such be overreported. Williams and Giles (1996)
in their study on accommodation strategies in intergenerational communication, which
only studied the young adult perspective about older adult communication, found that
61% of the young respondents who reported receiving verbally aggressive messages from
older adults reported feelings of anger in response. Along this line of research, a study
conducted from the perspective of the receiver found that more argumentative
individuals’ perceptions of the level of verbal aggression in a message depended upon the
sender of the message (Infante, Wall, Leap, & Danielson, 1984).
Infante, Riddle, Horwarth, and Tumlin (1992) found differences in perceptions
based upon the level of verbal aggressiveness of the individual concerning various
verbally aggressive strategies. People who scored high on verbal aggressiveness
perceived their messages to be less hurtful to others than did individuals low in verbal
aggressiveness. Though not counterintuitive, this idea would imply that these verbally
aggressive messages are constructed as argumentative messages. Kinney (1994) suggests
there are three general categories of verbally aggressive messages: group membership,
personal failings, and relational failings attacks. These studies suggest that those high in
trait verbal aggressiveness use strategies to mitigate the culpability of the painful
consequences of their utterances by minimizing the impact of her/his verbally aggressive
message. The results of this study suggest that individuals can misconstrue the aggressive
nature of their message.
Convention