Aggressiveness and Frequency-of-Aggressive-Use Ratings for Pejorative Epithets by Americans

Abstract

Summary A sample of 316 pejorative epithets from American English is presented as the basis of a procedure for the quantitative manipulation of verbal aggression. Such a procedure is needed, since the intuitively based procedures currently in use are often of questionable validity and preclude comparisons across different experiments. Epithets were rated for aggressiveness and frequency-of-aggressive-use by 96 American college men and women. Reliability of both ratings is high, thereby permitting these data to be used in choosing epithets in setting both the level of aggressive attack and the conventionality of the attack. The interrelationships of measures are discussed as they bear on the choice of epithets and as they suggest hypotheses about the nature and usage of epithets in aggression.

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