ABSTRACT
Verbal aggression is bad. “Verbal aggression is viewed as an exchange of messages between two people where at least one person in the dyad attacks the self-concept of the other person in order to hurt the person psychologically” (Infante & Wigley, 1986, p. 67). “Research has been unequivocal in suggesting that verbal aggression is a highly destructive form of communication” (Infante, 1995, p. 51). “Evidence indicates that receiving verbal aggression can destroy one’s physical and psychological well-being” (Kinney, 1994, p. 189). “Dysfunctional relationships associated with verbal aggressiveness are found in all contexts of communication” (Rancer & Avtgis, 2006, p. 240). “The communication discipline has championed rational discourse since Plato and Aristotle, most notably, and that mission will be furthered by an investigation of verbal aggression aimed at the control of its occurrence” (Infante & Rancer, 1996). But is it possible, to paraphrase Gordon Gekko, that “verbal aggression is good”?
