Understandings of Arguing in India and the United States: Argument Frames, Personalization of Conflict, Argumentativeness, and Verbal Aggressiveness

Abstract

This exploratory study analyzed the motivations and practices of argumentation in India, an increasingly important player in regional and international affairs. Indian data indicated that arguing patterns were influenced by age and gender. Younger men reported more playful arguing than women and older women reported being more stressed by arguments than men. Cross-culturally, Indians considered arguing less a part of civil discourse and reported higher feelings of being personally persecuted in arguments when compared to Americans. Also, the approach and avoidance subscales of argumentativeness, and the subscales of verbal aggressiveness were positively correlated, an atypical finding. The similarities and differences between the two countries are analyzed through a cultural lens to better understand interpersonal arguing.