Skip to main content
Log in

Assertiveness and Personality: Cross-Cultural Differences in Indian and Serbian Male Students

  • Assessment
  • Published:
Psychological Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study investigates the differences in assertiveness and the ability to discriminate assertiveness from aggressive and defensive/passive behaviour and the relation among them across Indian and Serbian cultures, besides exploring the relationship between personality and assertiveness in both the cultures. Measures of assertiveness, scale of discrimination among assertive, aggressive and passive behaviour and Big-Five personality inventory were administered on Indian (N = 108) and Serbian (N = 116) engineering students. Results indicated significant difference in the assertive behaviour of Indian and Serbian samples apart from significant relationship between personality and assertiveness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Argyrakouli, E., & Zafiropoulou, M. (2007). Qualitative analysis of experiences of members of a psychoeducational assertiveness group. Psychological Reports, 100, 531–546.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barbaree, H., & Davis, R. (1984). Assertive behaviour, self-expectations, and self-evaluations in mildly depressed university women. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8(2), 153–171.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colovic, P., Mitrovic, D., & Smederevac, S. (2005). Evaluacija modela pet velikih u nasoj kulturi primenom upitnika FIBI. Psihologija, 38 (1), 55–76.

  • Cvjeticanin, S. (2008). Hriscanska dijakonija u Evropi. Religija i tolerancija, 9(6), 59–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Djuric-Jocic, D., Dzamonja-Ignjatovic, T., & Knezevic, G. (2004). NEO PI-R primena i interpretacija. Beograd: Centar za primenjenu psihologiju.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, H. J., & Eysenck, S. B. G. (1968). Manual for the Eysenck personality inventory. San Diego: Educational and Industrial Testing Service.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, H. J. (1970). The structure of human personality. London: Methuen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fornell, C., & Westbrook, R. A. (1979). An exploratory study of assertiveness, aggressiveness, and consumer complaining behavior. In W. L. Wilkie (Ed.), Advances in consumer research (pp. 105–110). Ann Arbor: Association for Consumer Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fray, J. S., & Hector, M. A. (1987). The assertive-aggressive distinction and the cross-cultural perspective. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, 10, 103–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Furnham, A. (1979). Assertiveness in three cultures: multidimensionality and cultural differences. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 5, 3–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galassi, M. D., & Galassi, J. P. (1977). Assert yourself: How to be your own person. New York: Human Sciences Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Graziano, W. G., Habashi, M. M., Sheese, B. E., & Tobin, R. M. (2007). Agreeableness, empathy, and helping: a person x situation perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(4), 583–599.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, J. R., & Beil-Warner, D. (1978). Assertiveness of male Anglo and Mexico-American college students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 105, 175–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamid, P. N. (1994). Assertiveness and personality dimensions in Chinese students. Psychological Report, 75(1 Pt 1), 127–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartog, N. D. (2004). Assertiveness. In R. J. House, P. J. Hanges, M. Javidan, P. Dorfman, & V. Gupta (Eds.), Culture leadership and organizations: The GLOBE study of 62 societies (pp. 395–433). California: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, D. H. (1983). Assertion training: A tool for teacher educators. Illinois: Harper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: Software of the mind. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies.

    Google Scholar 

  • John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The big five inventory—Versions 4a and 54. Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kakar, S. (1996). The Indian psyche. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Margalit, B. A., & Mauger, P. A. (1985). Aggressiveness and assertiveness: a cross-cultural study of Israel and the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16, 497–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matic, M. (1993). Enciklopedija politicke culture. Beograd: Savremena administracija.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mendonca-MacIntyre, T. (1985). Cross-cultural comparison of assertiveness and aggressiveness in Portuguese and American students. Unpublished master’s thesis, Georgia State University.

  • Messina, J. J., & Messina, C. M. (2007). Tools for coping series. Retrieved on October 10, 2008 from http://www.coping.org/relations/assert.htm

  • Milankov, R. (1993). Standardization Retusovog questionnaire for measuring assertiveness—RAS. Novi Sad: Faculty, graduate work.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mitrovic, Lj. (2006). Balkan u svetlu razvojnih megatrendova: tranzicije, globalizacije, regionalizacije i evropske integracije. Skice istrazivackih tema/sketches of research topics, 21–29.

  • Mitkovic, M., Stankovic, M., Krivokuca, M., Nikic, M., & Alcaz, S. (2007). Assertiveness in Serbian sample: Does discrimination of assertiveness relate to assertive behaviour? Abstract book of 5th World Congress of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapies, Barcelona, (poster abstracts II) 28.

  • Needham, J. (1984). Kineska znanost i Zapad—velika titracija. Zagreb: Skolska knjiga, biblioteka Suvremena misao.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasnikar, J., Pahor, M., & Svetlik, V. J. (2008). Are national cultures still important in international business? Russia, Serbia and Slovenia in comparison. Management, 13(2), 1–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rathus, S. A. (1973). A 30 item schedule for assessing assertive behaviour. Behavior Therapy, 4, 398–406.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rees, S., & Graham, R. S. (1991). Assertion training: How to be who you really are? New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roland, A. (1988). In search of self in India and Japan: Towards a cross-cultural psychology. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, D. (1988). Basic Indian values and behavior dispositions in the context of national development: an appraisal. In D. Sinha & H. S. Kao (Eds.), Social values and development: An Asian perspective (pp. 31–55). New Delhi: Sage Publications Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha, J. B. P., & Verma, J. (1987). Structure of collectivism. In C. Kagitcibasi (Ed.), Growth and progress in cross-cultural psychology (pp. 123–129). Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.

    Google Scholar 

  • St. Lawrence, J. S., Hansen, D. J., Cutts, T. F., Tisdelle, D. A., & Irish, J. D. (1985). Sex role orientation: a superordinate variable in social evaluations of assertive and unassertive behaviour. Behavior Modification, 9, 387–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sulloway, F. J. (2001). Sibling order effects. In N. J. Swelser & P. B. Batles (Eds.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences (pp. 14058–14063). New York: Elsevier Science Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Triandis, H. C. (1995). Culture and social behaviour. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vestewig, R. E., & Moss, M. K. (1976). The relationship of extraversion and neuroticism to two measures of assertive behavior. The Journal of Psychology, 93, 141–146.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wojnilower, D. A., & Gross, A. M. (1988). Knowledge, perception and performance of assertive behaviour in children with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 21(2), 109–117.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yanadiga, E. H. (1979). Cross-cultural considerations in the application of assertion training: a brief report. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 3(4), 400–402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zdravkovic, J. (2004). Vestine vladanja sobom. Nis: Zograf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zdravkovic, J., & Krnetic, I. (2002): Psihometrijske karakteristike Testa diskriminacije asertivnog u odnosu na agresivno i defanzivno ponasanje. Unpublished data.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors wish to express their gratitude to Prof. J.B.P. Sinha for his valuable comments on the earlier version of the paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nachiketa Tripathi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tripathi, N., Nongmaithem, S., Mitkovic, M. et al. Assertiveness and Personality: Cross-Cultural Differences in Indian and Serbian Male Students. Psychol Stud 55, 330–338 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-010-0044-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-010-0044-z

Keywords

Navigation