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Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
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Are Argumentative People Better or Worse at Seeing Both Sides?

Cynthia McPherson Frantz

Amherst College cindy.frantz{at}oberlin.edu

Mary Seburn

University of Massachusetts Amherst

This study investigated the relationship between argumentativeness and perspective taking in interpersonal conflicts. Previous research suggests that those high in argumentativeness may be more open-minded and able to see both sides of an argument than those low in argumentativeness. However, their chronic motivation to argue may lead them to respond less evenhandedly to arguments in which they possess a strong personal preference. Participants high and low in argumentativeness responded open-endedly to two conflicts differing in degree of personal preference. High argumentatives were more evenhanded in the low-preference conflict than were low argumentatives, but less evenhanded in the high-preference conflict. Results highlight the importance of underlying preferences and motivations in perspective taking, as well as the importance of underlying mechanisms for predicting situation–personality interactions.

Key Words: argumentativeness • evenhandedness • perspective taking

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 20, No. 4, 565-573 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/02654075030204007
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