ANTAGONISTIC BEHAVIOR TraitSettm DEFINITIONS
1) Warmth:
A genuine interest in others as opposed to an interest in oneself.
Genuinely warm people are less likely to exhibit aggressive behavior since their
natural inclination is to establish positive relationships with others.
2) Assertion :
People who are assertive are more willing to stand up for their views and are
not afraid to overtly deal with conflict. This scale is a continuum that runs
from passive (much lower likelihood for overt violence) to aggressive (a creator
of conflict). Usually lower score are less prone to harassing or violent
behavior because they dislike conflict. However, they are also subject to being
harassed themselves, perhaps leading to a build up of anger and a potential blow up.
3) Anger :
Anger is not good or bad since it depends on WHAT you do with it. Some people
handle it in a mature way and state they are angry and want to resolve the
problem. Other people just become overtly angry, verbally abusive (yelling) or
may show physical activity (e.g., throwing things or kicking a chair). The point
is that greater feelings of anger lead to greater antagonism.
4) Suffocate :
When someone is stressed or frustrated they can become angry (see below). Another
defense is to suffocate their feeling toward the person who has been offensive by buttering him up and
making sure that everything is okay. Hence, the natural inclination is not to
increase any overt hostility (actually avoid overt displays of anger) but to
mitigate bad feelings and improve the relationship.
5) Harrassing :
Someone with a high score on this scale is actually admitting a tendency
to harass others when frustrated, did not get his/her way or is irritated at others.
Clearly, a person who readily admits this behavior (or tendency toward) probably
has a greater likelihood of showing it in difficult/stressful situations.
6) Violence :
A highscore on this scale is an admission of tendencies toward
overt violent/physical behavior (e.g., grabbing
others) or stating that you either enjoy violence or feel it is an appropriate
method to deal with frustration. Enjoying violence (e.g., action movies) may not
indicate that the person will actually use violence when dealing with others.
However, admitting the behavior and feeling it is an appropriate way to deal
with stressful relationships certainly increases the odds of overtly violent
displays.
7) Withholding :
This is really a Bias scale that measures a person's tendency to give
reasonable or realistic responses versus some distorted (e.g., exaggeration or
lying) response. Low scores often suggest the person is exaggerating the
positive aspects (socially desirable) of their behavior. Therefore they would be
UNLIKLY to admit actual tendencies toward abusive behavior. High scores indicate
a self-critical approach so the person may be too honest in admitting abusive
behavior. Hence, high/low scores cause one to interpret the data either up or
down.
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