Relations between motivation to argue and the argumentativeness of adversaries

This study examined whether motivation to argue would be influenced by the trait argumentativeness of an individual, and the similarity of a potential adversary in the trait predisposition. One hundred thirty‐six participants identified as either high or low in trait argumentativeness anticipated they would engage in an argument with a similar or dissimilar adversary. Motivation to argue was assessed by a set of five dependent measures. Results indicated that the adversary's level of argumentativeness produced a difference on high, but not low, argumentative individuals’ motivation to argue. In general, high argumentatives were more motivated to argue than lows, and high argumentatives were more motivated to argue with an adversary similar to themselves in the trait predisposition.

Key concepts:

• Arguing
• argumentativeness
• similarity
• homophily
• motivation
• traits
• adversaries
• MANOVA