ASSIGNMENT

ON
ASSERTIVENESS
TRAINING

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

[Link] Msc(N),Phd, [Link],
Assist prof cum HOD, Msc (N) 1st year,
Dept of MHN, VMCON,
VMCON, Puducherry. Puducherry.

SUBMITTED ON:
10-04-2020
 ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING
INTRODUCTION:
Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident
without being aggressive. In the field of psychology and psychotherapy, it
is a skill that can be learned and a mode of communication.
it is considered a critical life skill and recommended for children to
develop. While not currently taught in schools, assertiveness is a
communication skill that can be taught and the skills of assertive
communication effectively learned.
Within families, children are not always encouraged to develop
assertiveness skills and must usually accept and obey rulings by their
parents. Today, however, outspoken children can legally input to
decisions about their lives from age six-teen.
The level of assertiveness demonstrated in any human community is a
factor of social and cultural practices at the time of inquiry. For example,
in 2019 there are global public discussions about controversial topics
such as drug addiction, rape and sexual abuse of women and children,
which were not openly discussed in 1940.

HISTORY OF ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING:

Assertiveness Training ("AT") was introduced by Andrew Salter
(1961) and popularized by Joseph Wolpe. His belief was that a person
could not be both assertive and anxious at the same time, and thus being
assertive would inhibit anxiety.
Joseph Wolpe originally explored the use of assertiveness as a means
of "reciprocal inhibition" of anxiety, in his 1958 book on treating
neurosis; and it has since been commonly employed as an intervention in
behavior therapy
The term and concept was popularized to the general public by books
such as Your Perfect Right: A Guide to Assertive Behavior (1970) by
Robert E. Alberti and Michael L. Emmons and When I Say No, I Feel
Guilty: How To Cope Using the Skills of Systematic Assertiveness
Therapy (1975) by Manuel J. Smith.
During the second half of the 20th century, assertiveness was
increasingly singled out as a behavioral skill taught by many personal
development experts, behavior therapists, and cognitive behavioral
therapists.

DEFINITION:
Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines assertiveness as:
A form of behavior characterized by a confident declaration or
affirmation of a statement without need of proof; this affirms the person's
rights or point of view without either aggressively threatening the rights
of another (assuming a position of dominance) or submissively permitting
another to ignore or deny one's rights or point of view.
Assertiveness is a method of critical thinking where an individual
speaks up in defense of their views or in light of erroneous information

Non-Assertiveness:
A non-assertive person is one who is often taken advantage of, feels
helpless, takes on everyone’s pr oblems, says yes to inappropriate
demands and thoughtless requests, and allow others to choose for him or
her. The basic message he/she sends is “I’m not OK.”The non-assertive
person is emotionally dishonest, indirect, self-denying, and inhibited.
He/she feels hurt, anxious, and possibly angry about his/her actions.
Non-Assertive Body Language:
 Lack of eye contact; looking down or away.
 Swaying and shifting of weight from one foot to the other.
 Whining and hesitancy when speaking.

Assertiveness:
An assertive person is one who acts in his/her own best interests,
stands up for self, expresses feelings honestly, is in charge of self in
interpersonal relations, and chooses for self. The basic message sent from
an assertive person is “I’m OK and you’re OK.”An assertive person is
emotionally honest, direct, self-enhancing, and expressive. He/she feels
confident, self-respecting at the time of his/her actions as well as later.
Assertive Body Language:
 Stand straight, steady, and directly face the people to whom you are
speaking while maintaining eye contact.
 Speak in a clear, steady voice –loud enough for the people to whom
you are speaking to hear you.
 Speak fluently, without hesitation, and with assurance and confidence
Aggressiveness:
An aggressive person is one who wins by using power, hurts others, is
intimidating, controls the environment to suit his/her needs, and chooses
for others. An aggressive says “You’re not OK.”He/she is inappropriately
expressive, emotionally honest, direct, and self-enhancing at the expense
of another. An aggressive person feels righteous, superior, deprecatory at
the time of action and possibly guilty later.
Aggressive Body Language:
 Leaning forward with glaring eyes.
 Pointing a finger at the person to whom you are speaking.
 Shouting.
 Clenching the fists.
 Putting hands on hips and wagging the head
CONCEPT OF ASSERTIVENESS TRAINING:
According to the textbook Cognitive Behavior Therapy (2008),
"Assertive communication of personal opinions, needs, and boundaries
has been conceptualized as the behavioral middle ground, lying between
ineffective passive and aggressive responses". Such communication
"emphasizes expressing feelings forthrightly, but in a way that will not
spiral into aggression".
Assertive communication involves respect for the boundaries of oneself
and others. It also presumes an interest in the fulfillment of needs and
wants through [Link] others' actions threaten one's boundaries,
one communicates this to prevent escalation.
In contrast, "aggressive communication" judges, threatens, lies,
breaks confidences, stonewalls, and violates others' boundaries.
At the opposite end of the dialectic is "passive communication".
Victims may passively permit others to violate their boundaries. At a later
time, they may come back and attack with a sense of impunity or
righteous indignation.
Assertive communication attempts to transcend these extremes by
appealing to the shared interest of all parties; it "focuses on the issue, not
the person".Aggressive and/or passive communication, on the other hand,
may mark a relationship's end and reduce self-respect.

Goals of assertiveness training:

 increased awareness of personal rights

 differentiation between non-assertiveness and assertiveness

 differentiation between passive–aggressiveness and aggressiveness

 learning both verbal and non-verbal assertiveness skills

Assertive people tend to have the following characteristics:

 They feel free to express their feelings, thoughts, and desires.

 They are also able to initiate and maintain comfortable relationships
with other people.
 They know their rights.
 They have control over their anger. This does not mean that they
repress this feeling; it means that they control anger and talk about it
in a reasoning manner.
 Assertive people are willing to compromise with others, rather than
always wanting their own way ... and tend to have good self-esteem.
 Assertive people enter friendships from an 'I count my needs. I count
your needs position.
ASSERTIVE TECHNIQUES:

Manuel Smith, in his 1975 book When I Say No, I Feel Guilty, offered
some of the following behaviors:

Assertive Techniques

1. Broken Record –Be persistent and keep saying what you want over
and over again without getting angry, irritated, or loud. Stick to your
[Link] "broken record" technique consists of simply repeating
your requests or your refusals every time you are met with resistance.
The term comes from vinyl records, the surface of which when
scratched would lead the needle of a record player to loop over the
same few seconds of the recording indefinitely. "As with a broken
record, the key to this approach is repetition where your partner will
not take no for an answer.A disadvantage with this technique is that
when resistance continues, your requests may lose power every time
you have to repeat them. If the requests are repeated too often, it can
backfire on the authority of your words. In these cases, it is necessary
to have some sanctions on hand.
2. Free Information –Learn to listen to the other person and follow-up
on free information people offer about themselves. This free
information gives you something to talk about.

3. Self-Disclosure –Assertively disclose information about yourself –

how you think, feel, and react to the other person’s information. This
gives the other person information about you.

4. Fogging –An assertive coping skill is dealing with criticism. Do not

deny any criticism and do not counter-attack with criticism of your
[Link] consists of finding some limited truth to agree with in
what an antagonist is saying. More specifically, one can agree in part
or agree in principle.

5. Agree with the truth –Find a statement in the criticism that is truthful
and agree with that statement.

6. Agree with the odds –Agree with any possible truth in the critical
statement.

7. Agree in principle –Agree with the general truth in a logical

statement such as, That makes sense.
8. Negative Assertion –Assertively accepting those things that are
negative about yourself. Coping with your [Link] assertion is
agreement with criticism without letting up demand.

9. I-statements -I-statements can be used to voice one's feelings and

wishes from a personal position without expressing a judgment about
the other person or blaming one's feelings on them.

10. Workable Compromise –When your self-respect is not in question

offer a workable compromise.

How To Improve the Communication Process:

Active listening:
 reflecting back (paraphrasing) to the other person both words and
feelings expressed by that person.
Identifying your position:
 stating your thoughts and feelings about the situation.
 Exploring alternative solution: brainstorming other possibilities.
 rating the pros and cons.
 ranking possible solutions.
Making Simple Requests:
 You have a right to make your wants known to others.
 You deny your own importance when you do not ask for what you
want.
 The best way to get exactly what you want is to ask for it directly.
 Indirect ways of asking for what you want may not be understood.
 Your request is more likely to be understood when you use assertive
body language.
 Asking for what you want is a skill that can be learned.
 Directly asking for what you want can become a habit with many
pleasant rewards.
Refusing Requests:
 You have a right to say NO!.
 You deny your own importance when you say yes and you really
mean no.
 Saying no does not imply that you reject another person. you are
simply refusing a request.
 When saying no, it is important to be direct, concise, and to the point.
 If you really mean to say no, do not be swayed by pleading, begging,
cajoling, compliments, or other forms of manipulation.
 You may offer reasons for your refusal, but don’t get carried away
with numerous excuses.
 A simple apology is adequate; excessive apologies can be offensive.
Demonstrate assertive body language.
 Saying no is a skill that can be [Link] no and not feeling
guilty about it can become a habit that can be very growth enhancing.
Assertive Ways of Saying “No”:
 Basic principles to follow in answers: brevity, clarity, firmness, and
honesty.
 Begin your answer with the word “NO” so it is not ambiguous.
 Make your answer short and to the point.
 Don’t give a long explanation.
 Be honest, direct, and firm.
 Don’t say, “I’m sorry, but”Steps in Learning to Say ‘No’
 Ask yourself, “Is the request reasonable?” Hedging, hesitating,
feeling cornered, and nervousness or tightness in your body are all
clues that you want to say NO or that you need more information
before deciding to answer.
 Assert your right to ask for more information and for clarification
before you answer.
 Once you understand the request and decide you do not want to do it,
say NO firmly and calmly.
 Learn to say NO without saying, “I’m sorry, but...”.
 Evaluate Your Assertions

CRITICISM ON ASSERTIVENESS:

 Assertiveness may be practiced in an unbalanced way, especially by

those new to the process: problem with the concept of assertiveness is
that it is both complex and situation-specific.
 Behaviors that are assertive in one circumstance may not be so in
another".More particularly, while "unassertiveness courts one set of
problems, over-assertiveness creates another.

 Assertiveness manuals recognize that "many people, when trying out

assertive behavior for the first time, find that they go too far and
become aggressive.

 In the late 1970's and early 1980's, in the heyday of assertiveness

training, some so-called assertiveness training techniques were
distorted and "people were told to do some pretty obnoxious things in
the name of assertiveness. Like blankly repeating some request over
and over until you got your way".

 Divorced from respect for the rights of others, so-called assertiveness

techniques could be psychological tools that might be readily abused
 The line between repeatedly demanding with sanctions ("broken
record") versus coercive nagging, emotional blackmail, or bullying,
could be a fine one, and the caricature of assertiveness training as
"training in how to get your own way or how to become as aggressive
as the next person was perpetuated.

APPLICATION OF THEORY IN ASSERTIVENESS:

 Several research studies have identified assertiveness training as a

useful tool in the prevention of alcohol-use disorders.
 Psychological skills in general including assertiveness and social
skills have been posed as intervention for a variety of disorders with
some empirical support.

 In connection with gender theory, "Tannen argues that men and

women would both benefit from learning to use the others' [Link],
women would benefit from assertiveness training just as men might
benefit from sensitivity training".