Perceived Instructor Credibility as a Function of Instructor Aggressive Communication

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how an instructor's perceived use of argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness affects students' perceptions of instructor credibility. Results indicate that students rated the instructor who was high in argumentativeness and low in verbal aggressiveness as higher in competence, character, and caring than the instructor who was low in argumentativeness and high in verbal aggressiveness, low in both, and high in both. Results also suggest that any form of verbal aggressiveness on the instructor's part creates lower levels of character and caring despite the instructor's argumentativeness.

Keywords:

• Argumentativeness
• Caring
• Character
• Competence
• Credibility
• Verbal Aggressiveness

Notes

Note. Abbreviations: ARG = Argumentativeness; AGG = Verbal aggressiveness.

For each row, means sharing subscripts are significantly different. All findings are significant at the p < .001 level.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chad Edwards

Chad Edwards (Ph.D., University of Kansas, 2003) is an assistant professor in the School of Communication, Western Michigan University.

Scott A. Myers

Scott A. Myers (Ph.D., Kent State University, 1995) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, West Virginia University.