How instructors communicate with their students impacts their students' instructional attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Verbal aggression in the classroom often leads to negative instructional and relational outcomes (Infante, 1995; Myers, 2001; Myers & Knox, 2000; Myers & Rocca, 2001). This study investigated whether verbally aggressive…

A study of communication patterns in a desegregated school, located in an urban middle class black neighborhood, revealed "meddlin" (verbal and nonverbal aggression) to be a key area of cultural dissonance. This pattern is more common among blacks. Name calling, rumor mongering, body bluster, verbal intimidation, taking or destroying…

A study examined students' perceptions of an instructor's use of slang and verbal aggression in giving a presentation. The study used an experiment to investigate the relationship between these two variables and students' perceptions of credibility, affect, and immediacy. Participants, 167 undergraduate communication students at a large midwestern…