F#!%ing Rudeness

Abstract

In an online survey study (n = 275), several demographic and personality variables were used to predict scores on the Rudeness Scale, a new measure of the propensity to verbally abuse strangers. The results of multiple regression analyses revealed a number of significant main effects. These effects revealed that the people in the authors’ sample who reported the greatest propensity to verbally abuse strangers were Hispanic/Latino or Black individuals who scored low in adherence to the standards of conventional morality but high in ego defensiveness (unwillingness to accept criticism or correction from others) and affect intensity for anger and frustration. The authors’ interpretation of the findings combines insights derived from Swann’s self-verification theory, contrasting views of ego defensiveness, and Larsen et al.’s work on affect intensity with a dispositional view of verbal rudeness that emphasizes its use as a weapon in interpersonal struggles for power, status, and “face.”