Assertiveness is the quality of being self-assured and confident without being aggressive to defend a right point of view or a relevant statement.
Assertiveness is a method of critical thinking, where an individual speaks up in defense of their views or in light of erroneous information.
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 Eating.
Joseph Wolpe initially 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.
[2] Assertiveness training was introduced by Andrew Salter (1961)[3][full citation needed] and popularized by Joseph Wolpe.
[6] Because of this fear, passive communicators do not defend their own personal boundaries or ideas, and thus allow aggressive people to abuse or manipulate them.
Assertive communication attempts to transcend these extremes by appealing to the shared interest of all parties; it "focuses on the issue, not the person".
Manuel Smith, in his 1975 book When I Say No, I Feel Guilty,[16] offered some of the following behaviors: The "broken record" technique[16] consists of simply repeating your requests or your refusals every time you are met with resistance.
An example of this use is Mantinc el català, that aims to raise self-awareness in Catalan speakers about the importance of not shifting unconsciously and at first glance to Spanish in conversations with unknown people.
[28] 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"[29] was perpetuated.