Bishop Cotton Women's Christian college

Psychology Practical Project

Rathus Assertiveness Scale

Submitted by
Name-Shashi Prabha V
rd
Class - 3 B.A (PYEJ)
REGISTRATION NO.- A1813838
 Certificate

This is to certify that Shashi Prabha V , student of 3rd B. A

(PYEJ) having registration no. A1813838 has successfully
completed the project on the topic ‘Rathus Assertiveness
Scale’ under the guidance of Mrs. Rachel Natalia Brown and
Mrs. Shruthi Siddu during the year 2020- 2021.

Teacher Signature. Principal Signature

 Acknowledgment

Presentation inspiration and motivation have always played

key role in success of any venture. I pay my deep Sense of
gratitude to Mrs. Rachel Brown Natalia and Mrs. Shruthi
Siddu of Psychology Department, Bishop Cotton Women's
Christian college, Bengaluru to provide me the opportunity to
prepare the project . I am immensely obliged to my friends
for their elevating inspiration, encouraging guidance and kind
supervision in the completion of my project .
Last , but not the least , my parents are also an important
inspiration for me . So with due regard , I express my
gratitude to them .
Index
Certificate
Acknowledgement
Introduction to Rathus Assertiveness Scale
Review of literature
Synopsis
Sheets of data collection of boys
Score table of Boys and discussion
Sheets of data collection of Girls
Score table of Girls and discussion
Comparative Discussion
Conclusion
Introduction

Assertiveness refers to the ability to make requests, actively

disagree; express personal rights and feelings; initiate,
maintain, or disengage from conversations; and to stand up
for self. Attempts to increase assertiveness have typically
focussed on shaping both verbal and nonverbal
communication or altering maladaptive anxiety responses in
inter-personal conversations. As such “Assertiveness is
defined in terms of communication behaviours”. Wolpe
(1973) defines assertive behaviour as “the proper expression
of any emotion other than anxiety towards another person”.
Assertiveness Training helps individuals, who are excessively
inhibited, by helping reduce anxiety in a variety of social
situations. Rathus Assertiveness Scale was standardized in
1967/1973 on high school students. It measures the level of
assertiveness of the subject. The scale comprises of 30
statements, which have to be rated according to code given
in the schedule.
Assertive behavior, or assertion. involves direct expression of
one’s feelings, preferences, needs, or opinions in a manner
that is neither threatening nor punishing toward another
person. Assertive behavior refers to all socially acceptable
expressions of personal rights and feelings. Being assertive
includes the honest. appropriate and relatively
straightforward expression of feelings such as anger,
dissatisfaction and resentment as well as the expression of
love, affection and praise (Alberti and Emmons, 1970). In
addition, assertion does not involve an undue or excessive
amount of anxiety or fear (Galassi and Galassi , 1977). That is,
an assertive person should not experience an inordinate
amount of anxiety or fear when acting assertively.
Review Of Literature

Assertiveness is a way of personal behaviour and

communication characterized by a willingness to stand up for
one’s needs and interests in an open and direct way.
In the study the researcher aimed to study the Assertiveness
level of undergraduate students with reference to their
gender, residence and stream of study. The sample of the
study is consisted of 100 undergraduate students (50 males
and 50 females) within the age group between 16 to 22 years
and has been the students of following courses; Bachelor of
Science, Arts and Commerce. The Rathus Assertiveness
Schedule (1978) was administered to study the level of
Assertiveness among the students. The results of the study
revealed that there was no significant difference between
students in their level of Assertiveness with respect to
gender, residence and stream of study (Parray & Kumar,
2016).
In another study which was conducted to measure sex
differences in assertive behavior found that men reported
greater tendency to assert themselves than women in public
situations while, women reported a tendency to be more
assertive in private interpersonal settings. Men reported a
significantly greater tendency than women to be shy in
dating situations. Finally, men reported a greater willingness
than women to question publicly a person of high status
(Mathison et al., 1982).
Furthermore, Crassini, Law and Wilson (2007), performed a
discriminant analysis of responses to the Rathus
Assertiveness Schedule (RAS) to investigate sex-related
differences in Assertiveness. They found that men were more
assertive than women on some items and on some items,
women were more assertive than men. But on a significant
number of items of RAS the analysis revealed that they was
no difference between men and women.
A study conducted by Pourjali and Zarnaghash (2010), aimed
to understand the relationship between Assertiveness, the
power of saying no with Mental health on a group of
undergraduate students in Shiraz University. The sample
consisted of 120 undergraduate students including 62
women and 58 men. The data were analyzed by Pearson
coefficient and independent t-Test. The results revealed that
there was a significant relationship between Assertiveness
and Mental health and also there was a significant
relationship between the power of saying no and Mental
health. But there was no significant difference between the
Assertiveness of women and men and also there was no
significant difference between the power of saying no, of
women and men.
Ezer (2020), examined the predictive role of shyness and Fear
of Negative Evaluation on Assertiveness among adolescents.
The sample consisted of 419 high school students both men
and women. Scales like Interpersonal Behavior (SIB), Shyness
Scale, Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (BFNE) and a
demographic information form were used to gather data and
multiple regression analysis was performed. The results of
the study revealed that shyness was found as a significant
negative predictor of Assertiveness but Fear of Negative
Evaluation did not reveal as a significant predictor. However,
the results also revealed a significant relationship between
Assertiveness and both gender and grade level of the
students.
Synopsis

Problem:
To assess the degree of assertiveness of the subject
suing Rathus Assertiveness Scale.

Materials Required:
1) Rathus Assertiveness Scale
2) Answer sheet
3) Manual and Scoring Key

Procedure:
The subject is seated comfortably. The following
instructions are given to the subject:
Instructions:
“How assertive are you? Do you stick up for your rights,
pr do you allow others people to walk all over you? Do you
say what you feel or what you think other people want you
to say? Do you initiate relationships with attractive people, or
do you shy away from them? One way you gain insight into
how assertive you are is to take the following self-report test
of assertive behaviour. Read the statements given below.
Indicate how characteristic or descriptive each of the
following statements is of you, by using the code given
below.
  +3 Always
 +2 Usually
 +1 Sometimes
 -1 Once in a while
 -2 Rarely
 -3 Never

Precautions:
1) Ensure that the subject has understood the instructions
2) Ask the subject to respond to all the statements and not
to leave any items unanswered.

Analysis of Data:
Scoring: Add all the “+” responses. Add all the “-”
responses. Subtract the two totals to find the subject’s score.
The score will range between -90 and +90.
 Group Table – Showing the Assertiveness score of Boys

SI.No. Name Score Interpretation

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Very Non- Assertive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Total

Mean Probably Aggressive

Discussion of Boys
On looking at the group table of boys we see that the group
has total score of with the mean score of . So , the
group as a whole is interpreted as Probably Aggressive.
 Group table – Showing the Assertiveness score of the girls

SI.No Name Score Interpretation

Very Non-Assertive

Probably Aggressive

Very Non-Assertive

Probably Aggressive

Very Non-Assertive

Very Non-Assertive

Very Non-Assertive

Very Non-Assertive

Probably Aggressive

Probably Aggressive

Total

Mean Situationally Non-

Assertive

Discussion of Girls
On looking the group table of girls we see that the group as a
whole has total score of and mean score of . So , the
group as a whole is interpreted as ‘Situationally Non-
Assertive’.
Comparative Discussion
On looking at the group table of boys and girls, we see that
the boys are interpreted as ‘Probably Aggressive’ whereas
girls are interpreted as ‘Situationally Non-Assertive’.

Conclusion
1. Boys are interpreted as Probably Aggressive.
2. Girls are interpreted as Situationally Non-Assertive.