Assertiveness Inventory

19.1 The Instrument and Its Administration

A
ssertiveness inventory is a self-administered instrument and contains 48 items, 16 items
for each type of behaviour. A 5-point scale has been used. It is designed to assess the level
of assertiveness, submissiveness and aggressiveness in a person. Although the instrument
is self-administered and self-scored, the facilitator also can collect the instruments and score it for
them. If administered in a group to construct a group profile, respondents should be explained that
the instrument is to help them understand their existing behaviour and plan to enhance their effec-
tiveness by reducing dysfunctional and increasing functional aspects. Scoring key should not be
distributed to the respondents until they complete the instrument.

19.2 Conceptual Framework

Assertiveness has been of great interest to behavioural scientists for more than five decades.
It caught their special attention in the early 1970s, when they were not only challenged but also
concerned regarding the increasing number of non-assertive people. Since then, thousands of
studies have been conducted to get to the root cause of non-assertive behaviour. Somewhere
along the line, it has been confused with aggression. Generally, people assume that being assertive
means, being pushy, demanding or asking for self-importance. Assertiveness does not mean being
unpleasant to people, getting away with behaviour that upsets a team or dictating your terms.
Assertiveness is respecting the self enough to become aware and state what one wants and, at the
same time, being sensitive and respecting others’ needs too. Assertiveness simply can be defined
as, ‘taking charge of your life’.
Dictionary meaning of ‘to assert’ is ‘to state or affirm positively, plainly, assuredly or strongly’,
but behavioural scientists felt this explanation was not sufficient; it had to do something with inter-
personal relationships that affected peoples’ effectiveness. It is important to understand the genesis
of our behaviour. Pavlov’s classical experiments of conditioned reflex (Pavlov, 1960) explained how
animals and human beings behave adaptively to changing conditions in the environment.
Since the era of Pavlov, various theories on assertiveness have been suggested, major among
them being the works of Andrew Salter (1949), Joseph Wolpe (1969) and Arnold Lazarus (1968),
who developed various concepts of assertiveness based on Pavlovian perspective directly or
indirectly. Andrew Salter proposed that when excitatory forces dominate, people are action
oriented, meet life on their own terms and are emotionally free, whereas excess of inhibitory
forces cause people to be passive, unsure of themselves and low on self-sufficiency, who suffer
from ‘constipation of emotions’. According to Andrew Salter, there must be a proper balance of
excitatory and inhibitory forces for normal psychological health. He also believed that this balance
could be achieved by deliberate and conscious effort until a new spontaneous behaviour occurred,
forming a natural part of the personality.
Joseph Wolpe (1969) defines assertive behaviour as ‘the proper expression of any emotion,
other than anxiety towards another person’. He proposed people behaved unassertively because
of interpersonal fears. If these fears could be reduced, a new behaviour would emerge. He applied
this knowledge in the clinical treatment of patients successfully. His ‘reciprocal inhibition
principle’ has become one of the milestones of behaviour therapy. The principle states, ‘If a
response inhibitory of anxiety can be made to occur in the presence of anxiety-provoking stimuli,
it will weaken the bond between the stimuli and the anxiety’. He taught his patients to respond
to social situations with emotions such as anger or affection that inhibit or counter anxiety
through role-playing until anxiety totally disappeared. Once the patients learnt, they carried this
new behaviour to real life situations and became more assertive.
Arnold Lazarus (1968) defines emotional freedom as ‘the recognition and appropriate
expression of each and every effective state’. He proposed that assertive behaviour emerges as
the aspect of emotional freedom that concerns ‘standing up for your rights’. He further states,
‘knowing what you feel is not enough. You must express it too, appropriately’. That involves
knowing your rights, doing something about it and doing this within the framework of striving
for emotional freedom. According to him, recognition of rights also involves a recognition of and
respect for the rights of others.
James Allen (1950) offered the following formula on self-esteem:

Self-esteem = Success/pretensions

Self-esteem in simplistic terms means how you feel about yourself. It comes from a feeling of
knowing what is good and having done it. Pretensions part concerns goals. He felt that people
may possess many unrealistic and conflicting goals and success at one goal has to be at the cost
of suppression of others. He proposed, ‘Seeker of his truest, strongest, deepest self must review
his list (of possible goals) and carefully pick up the ones on which to stake his salvation’. By this,
James meant that one could fulfil himself only through accepting certain limitations and every
success meant a rise in the degree of self-assertion.
 People behave non-assertively due to social conditioning. Right from our childhood, we are
taught by the society, parents and teachers to comply with the wishes of others. Children who
obediently follow what others tell them to are rewarded, whereas children who speak for
themselves or raise any questions are dealt with sternly. This type of training results in two types
of behaviours:

1. Either people become submissive and let other people push them around and define
their roles or
2. Rebel and become aggressive and dominate, humiliate or put down other people.

Both the behaviours are inappropriate and hinder proper assertion of our self. We adopt either
of the two styles of behaviours, even when we grow up, take up jobs and perform various
roles in life, for example, employee, employer, friend, spouse, parent, etc., and live throughout our
life in the same manner. Non-assertiveness has sad and severe consequences such as disrupted
relationships, lack of personal growth and development, migraines, fatigue and depression.
The submissive or timid souls do not recognise their own strengths. They feel and behave
inferior. They are passive in all the situations. They give thousands of reasons for not acting, so
that over a period of time, they become very skilled at creating an empty life. They become
conditioned to certain fears such as rejection, criticism, failure, looking foolish and expression of
emotions such as anger or tenderness. They tend to avoid situations where they might come across
these fears. Out of fear, they do not set any goals and live a purposeless life. Goal setting is an
important aspect of assertiveness because goals direct, motivate and reinforce self-esteem. They
do not understand the difference between being liked and being respected. Their need to be liked
is so great that they sacrifice their self-respect.
On the other hand, aggressive people feel that their desires are of utmost importance. Because
of certain bitter experiences and hurts, their goal becomes to hurt and humiliate others. They have
a notion that it is acceptable, even necessary, to step on others to get ahead. They look at the world
as they would like it to be, not as it is. They feel and think that the world should revolve around
them, which is not only unrealistic but also futile. They are compulsive complainers. They are like
a wounded tiger which is always in the search of a prey to attack and attacks at the first opportunity
available. Sometimes, their victims retaliate or, at other times, they run away and avoid them. In
the bargain, they become frustrated, miserable, vindictive and manipulative. They burn with rage
almost all the time and become increasingly aggressive.
Assertion is often confused with aggression. Aggressiveness is an act against others whereas
assertiveness is appropriate standing up for one’s own rights. Assertiveness primarily means self-
mastery or taking charge of one’s own life. Assertive behaviour is a direct, open, honest and
appropriate expression of one’s opinions, values, beliefs and feelings. Assertive communication
demonstrates self-confidence and self-respect in addition to the awareness and respect for
other’s feelings, opinions and values. Mahatma Gandhi best exemplified assertive behaviour, who
stood for India’s independence and succeeded in his mission without any violence or aggression.
He strongly believed that freedom was the fundamental right of every human being, and he had
every right to demand it.
Assertiveness is based on the belief that you have a right to be listened to and taken seriously,
to commit mistakes, to ask for favours and to refuse unreasonable requests without feeling guilty.
At the same time, it is also important to understand that the other person has identical rights.
Your relationships become much more genuine because you are communicating openly and
honestly. When you ask for a favour and are refused, you may feel disappointed, which is a natural
process, but you don’t have to feel bad or hurt about it. When you communicate openly, directly
and honestly, your relationships with people become much more genuine and at the same time,
you earn their respect. Herbert Fensterheim (1975) gives a seemingly simple, yet a very powerful
equation: assertion = self-esteem.
Some of the traits observed in an assertive personality are optimism, active orientation to life,
taking personal responsibility for one’s failures and successes, taking calculated risks, setting
realistic goals, ability to take decisions, appropriate communication skills, etc. Assertive person acts
out of inner strength. He knows exactly what he wants and makes things happen, rather than
waiting passively for things to happen.
Based on various theories, research findings and observation of human behaviour, the three
types of behaviour are summarised here.

Submissiveness: Submissive people do not recognise their own strengths. They behave inferior
because they feel inferior. They live their lives by the rules and whims of others. They are low on
self-sufficiency. They are passive in all the situations. They possess no control of their own lives.
They do not know who they are, what they want, what they feel or what they think. They become
increasingly unsure of themselves. Passive or non-assertive behaviour comes primarily from the
obedient/adapted child or nurturing parent ego. Passive people adopt the life position ‘I am not
OK you are OK’. Passive behaviour is an avoidance mode of behaviour or an accommodation of
others’ wishes without standing for one’s own right. It involves self-denial and sacrifices. A person
who is unassertive or passive by reason of his interpersonal fears may not be able to complain
about the poor service in a restaurant/hotel room, contradict a friend with whom he disagrees,
get up and leave a social situation that has become boring or express affection, appreciation or
praise. Such persons as employees learn early in their careers that if they speak up they are not
likely to get a raise or promotion and may even lose their jobs. Passive people often have very poor
self-esteem and are unhappy. The passivity is based on unknown fears—fear of failure, fear of
rejection, fear of displeasing others, fear of retaliation, fear of hurting others and being hurt and
fear of getting into trouble. Passivity of behaviour is not by birth, but it is because of what is
learnt in early childhood.
Aggressiveness: Over-assertiveness is often aggression and is always inappropriate. When we
behave aggressively and come on too strong, we may accomplish things temporarily, but, in most
cases, it leads to disrupted communication with others, calls forth counter aggression from others
and tends to make us even more aggressive. The purpose of aggressive behaviour is to dominate,
humiliate or ‘put the other person down’. Aggression is an act against others whereas assertion
is proper standing up for ourselves. Aggressive behaviour comes primarily through critical parent
or rebellious child. Aggressive people are demanding, rude and dominating. They want their
own way and force to gain control. Aggressive people are very competitive and do not like to lose.
For winning in any interpersonal conflict, they will not hesitate to cheat to gain control. They have
a tendency to violate the rights of others to get their way. Non-verbal communication used by
aggressive people includes cold response, speaking loudly, threatening gestures and belligerent
postures, showing impatience, shaking fingers and making fists. People avoid contact with aggres-
sive people and transaction is minimal. Aggressive people appear to be self-confident but
the behaviour is more often the result of poor self-concept. Although they are in ‘I am not OK’
position, but they consistently try to prove that they are in ‘OK’ position by attacking and control-
ling others. Since they have inherent inferiority complex, they try hard to prove their worth by
violating others’ rights.

Assertiveness: Assertive behaviour is a direct, open, honest and appropriate expression of one’s
feelings, opinions, values and beliefs. Assertive communication demonstrates self-respect and self-
confidence in addition to awareness and respect for others’ feelings, opinions, values and belief.
Assertive behaviour comes out of adult ego state with ‘I am OK, you are OK’ position. Assertive
people express their feelings, emotions and thoughts without being aggressive. They express their
ideas, feelings and thoughts firmly and emphatically without being rude and unreasonable and
without offending others. These persons stand up to their rights without violating the rights of
others. Non-verbal communication of an assertive person includes positive facial expression such
as smiling, eye contact, pleasant voice, erect postures and firm gestures. The person with assertive
behaviour is having positive self-concepts. They do not get threatened, and do not allow others
to control their behaviour. They project positive image of themselves.
Assertiveness training aims at helping people to understand what is wrong with their lifestyle
and what they could do to change it. Its other aims are to help people to understand the impor-
tance of interpersonal communication skills, to take charge of their life, to learn to recognise and
express all emotions including anger. According to Fensterheim (1975), assertiveness training
offers following two assumptions:

1. What you do serves as the basis of your self-concept.

2. Behaviours do not exist in isolation but interact with each other, that is, if you change
one behaviour, you change a whole series of related behaviours.
 19.3 Scoring

1. The following items correspond to the three types of behaviours:

• Submissiveness: 1,4,7,10,13,16,19,22,25,28,31,34,37,40,43,46
• Aggressiveness: 2,5,8,11,14,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38,41,44,47
• Assertiveness: 3,6,9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39,42,45,48
2. Add the rating for each type of behavior. Total will range from 0 to 64.
3. Multiply each total by 1.56. It will range from 0 to 100.
4. Calculate Assertiveness Effectiveness Quotients (AEQ) using the following formula:
AEQ = Assertiveness/(Submissiveness + Aggressiveness) × 100
5. AEQ will range from 0 to 100. The higher the AEQ, the more effective the person is
using his/her assertive behaviour in relation to submissiveness or aggressiveness.

19.4 Reliability

Split-half reliability (N = 120) was found to be 0.58.

19.5 Norms

Based on the responses of 80 undergraduates, tentative norms are proposed on the basis of mean
and SD values given here. Specific norms can be developed for specific groups based on the
mean and SD values.

Aspects Mean SD Very low Low Average High Very high

Submissiveness 45.55 13.31 10 and below 19–32 33–59 60–72 73 and above
Aggressiveness 35.1 12.82 11 and below 10–23 24–48 49–61 62 and above
Assertiveness 48.57 13.92 19 and below 11–35 36–62 63–76 77 and above
Name: _________________________________ Date: ____________________________________
Organisation: ____________________________ Role: ____________________________________
The purpose of this inventory is to help you to assess your assertive style. Answer as honestly as possible.
Read each item carefully and write your answers in the space provided on its left hand side according to the
following key.

Write 4 if you almost always behave this way

Write 3 if you often behave this way
Write 2 if you sometimes behave this way
Write 1 if you occasionally behave this way
Write 0 if you never or rarely behave this way

No. Response Items

1. __________ I generally keep quiet and do not argue with others when they don’t listen to me.
2. __________ I feel very hurt and angry, if the other person refuses when I ask for a favour.
3. __________ I am able to recognise and express my strengths.
4. __________ I feel I am not as good as others.
5. __________ I become resentful, angry and defensive, when criticised.
6. __________ I try to reason out with others, when they don’t listen to me.
7. __________ I always check with others, if it is okay with them, what I plan to do.
8. __________ I become physically or verbally abusive when angry.
9. __________ I do not feel shy in asking for a favour or making a request.
10. __________ I have the tendency to make self-deprecating remarks when I succeed or achieve
something (e.g., ‘Oh, I was just plain lucky!’ or ‘I can’t believe I really did that!’
or ‘I am not really very good at that!’).
11. __________ I often have my share of fun at the expense of others.
12. __________ If I cannot complete any given task by the deadline, I tell openly and honestly
the reason for delay rather than making up excuses.
13. __________ Though I feel people often take advantage of me, but I guess nothing can be
done about such people.
14. __________ If I am angry with a person of higher authority (e.g., parent, teacher or boss),
I take out my anger on inanimate objects (e.g., throwing a book, banging the
telephone, kicking a chair, etc.).
15. __________ I can start and carry on a conversation comfortably, even with strangers.
16. __________ I feel very embarrassed and don’t know how to react when I receive compliments
from others.
17. __________ I tend to grumble about other people’s behaviour (e.g., ‘You never…’ or ‘You
always…’).
18. __________ I speak clearly and directly, keeping my voice calm and controlled, even in a
conflict.
19. __________ I feel hurt and depressed when someone criticises me, but I don’t say anything
and just sulk.
20. __________ If I do not like what the other person says, I ignore him and walk away.
No. Response Items
21. __________ If others laugh at me, I too laugh with them or disagree in good humour.
22. __________ I go out of way to help people, even at my own inconvenience and later on
regret doing so.
23. __________ I get angry and defensive, when others laugh at me.
24. __________ I listen to the other person attentively, even when I might disagree with him.
25. __________ In a discussion, if I feel I have nothing worthwhile to say, I just sit quietly and do
not participate.
26. __________ There is no harm in using people or manipulating things to succeed in life.
27. __________ I have no problem in paying a compliment to anyone if I like something about
him.
28. __________ I control and suppress my anger, because I don’t want to create a scene.
29. __________ When I am angry with someone, I usually become silent and indifferent.
30. __________ I can express very easily my feelings of tenderness towards others.
31. __________ I find it difficult to take initiative in discussion and wait for somebody else to
take charge.
32. __________ I do not bother when told that I am being unfair, and try to prove the other
person wrong.
33. __________ If I hear some rumour or gossip about me, I directly go to the person concerned
and ask for clarification.
34. __________ I pay compliments to people just to be comfortable with them.
35. __________ I shout or snap back at others when they don’t listen to me.
36. __________ I can refuse a request without feeling guilty or over explaining.
37. __________ I do not like to be compared with others.
38. __________ In discussion, if I feel, the other person is talking something irrelevant, I tell him
to shut up.
39. __________ If I get irritated by someone’s habit that drives me up the wall, I ask him to stop.
40. __________ I find it very difficult to make eye contact while talking.
41. __________ I feel my desires, needs and suggestions are very important, and others should go
along with them.
42. __________ I can take criticism without being defensive.
43. __________ I find it very difficult to ask for a favour.
44. __________ When I succeed, I make it a point to let everyone know that I outsmarted
everybody else.
45. __________ I do not avoid confrontation for the fear of spoiling relationships.
46. __________ I feel bad if I have to refuse a request and try my best to explain it.
47. __________ I do most of the talking in a conversation.
48. __________ I take initiative in discussion and raise questions if I do not understand a point.