EXERCISE 16

ASSERTIVENESS

16,1. INTRODUCTION

Assertiveness means to defend ones rights or options,

thrust oneself forward. It
sometimes with unnecessary zeal, to
without infringing
also includes standing up for ones own right, behaviour
others. Assertiveness is an adaptive
upon the rights of
one would like, the holding
which includes the capacity to act as
back and refraining from expressing feeling.
ones Wolpe (1973)
defined assertive behaviour as,
"the proper expression of any
Lazarus
towards another person".
emotion other than anxiety
involved in assertive
(1973) suggested four response categories
to initiate, continue and
behaviour namely: (1) the ability
the ability to say 'no';
successfully terminate conversations, (2) and (4) the
or ask for favours,
(3) the ability to make requests
to express positive and negative
feelings.
ability
Individuals who are not assertive responde in
do not
Salter (1948)
thus lack in spontaneity.
everyday interactions, and inhibitions
individuals with expressive
stated that non-assertive
experience a sense of
lead unhappy lives. They generally
dissatisfaction.
emptiness and a feeling of
verbal
Researchers have identified and specified
non-assertive
between assertive and
behaviour that differentiate
speak more loudly and make
Assertive individuals
persons. non-assertive
individuals (Eisler,
than do
more requests of others use fewer
words
Hersen 1973). Assertive persons also
Miller and take less
a c r o s s (Galassi
et al 1975) and
to get their message non-assertive persons.
than do
time to deliver a message
 2 3
Similarly assertive people are more likely to maintain eye 16.4. MATERIALS REQUIRED
contact during conversation, to stand erect with their heads up
here for
(1) Rathus Assertiveness Scale (Which appended
is
and to match their expressions with what they are saying, than
are non- assertive people (Williams and Long 1979). There is use
spontaneity. politeness and firmness in the speech of assertive
(2) Answersheet.
individuals.
under the
(3) Manual and Scoring Key (Which is explained
There is a subtle difference between behaving assertively oshead, scoring)
and behaving aggressively. Aggression has been defined as, "any
TEST
form of behaviour directed towards the goal of harming or 16.5. DESCRIPTION OF THE
injuring another living being" (Baron, 1977), while, in assertive standardized in 1967 on
one exerts one's rights as a human, without Rathus Assertiveness Scale was
behaviour
subsequent offence. high school students. It m e a s u r e s
the level of assertiveness of
which have
the subject. The scale comprised of 32 statements,
Assertiveness training has developed into a popular, and to be rated on a 4 point scale.
useful course. It helps improve the well being of individuals
who are excessively inhibited. This training also helps in
16.6. PROCEDURE

reducing anxiety (Percell, Berwick and Beigal, 1974) in a variety The subject is to seated comfortably.
The following
situations. Assertiveness training has helped to control
of social
their anger (Rimm. Brown and Stuart. 1974), and to decrease
instructions are to be given to the subject(s):

marriage problems between distressed couples. Finally it "Read the statements given below and
then circle around
statements to indicate
provides emotional freedom and help to establish meaningful the appropriate number to the right of the
relationships. to indicate how descriptive
each statement is to you.

16.2.TITLE: ASSERTIVENESS 16.7. PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN

has understood the directions.

Experiment No.: Experimenter: (1) Make sure that the subject
and not
Date (2) Ask the subject to respond to all the statements,
Subject: to leave any item
unanswered.

Individual? Group Experiment

16.8. SCORING

16.3. AIMM the manual,

are scored as per
The subject's responses
statements are
tabulated. In this test some
To the and the results are
assess assertiveness of the subject. that a response of I indicate high
assertive
scored in such a way behaviour. The
behaviour and a response
of 4. less assertive
responses for the following items, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10,
20, 21, 22, 25, 19.10. DISCUSSION
27, 28, 29 have to be reversed for scoring purposes that is I as
4, 2 as 3, 3 as 1. The other unreserved items are
2 and 4 as (1) Discuss the score of your subject and the level of
scored in such a way what a response of I 1indicates less assertiveness.
assertiveness and a response of 4 indicates high assertiveness.
The greater the overall score, the lesser the assertiveness. The (2) Compare the subject's score to that of the group.
total score for a subject ranges from 32 to 128. The four levels
(3) State the highest and the lowest score in the group.
of assertiveness may range 1 to 32, 33 to 64, 65-96 and 97 to
188.
(4) Compare the males and the female scores.
Table 1. Showing Individual data of the subject 16.11. CONCLUSION:
Total Score Level of Assertiveness
(1) Individual's level of assertiveness
(2) Sex difference in assertiveness

(3) Individual differences in assertiveness

Scores of the group are tabulated as follows:
16.12. REFERENCES:
Table 2. Group Data
1. Rathus: 1973, *A 30 Item schedule for Assessing
S.No. Initials of Total Level of Assertive Behaviour" J. Behaviour Therapy, 4, pp. 398-
406.
the subject Score Assertiveness
2. Eisler R.M; P.M. and Hersen M; 1973,
miller
"Components of Assertive Behaviour" J. of Clinical of
Psychology, 29, pp. 295-299.
Written by
Ms. Usha Subramanian
16.9. RESULTS
Dept. of Psychology
Subject/Individual Score Presidency college,
Group Average Score Chnnai 5

Range of the Group Score The above lessons were edited by Dr. M.Shanmugham,
Average Score of men and Women Director, ICE, University of Madras.