The Influence of Biological Sex on Perceived Aggressive Communication in Debater–Judge Conflicts in Parliamentary Debate

Abstract

This study examines how college debate judges’ perceptions of debaters’ argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness are influenced by biological sex in the “reason for decision” stage of parliamentary debates. Debate judges in each of four experimental conditions viewed a video that manipulated the sex of the actor and the amount of verbal aggressiveness used by the actor to express disagreement after a fictional debate round. The results suggest that debate judges perceive female debaters as significantly more verbally aggressive than male debaters in reasons for decisions.

Keywords:

• Argumentativeness
• Debate
• Reason for Decision
• Sex Roles
• Verbal Aggressiveness

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Sharon D. Downey, San Bolkan, and Ann Johnson for their insightful guidance.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicholas C. Matthews

Nicholas C. Matthews is a part-time Lecturer in the Department of Communication Studies at California State University, Long Beach, and an Adjunct Instructor and Forensics Coach in the Department of Communication Studies at Irvine Valley College. This article was derived from the master's thesis of the author.