How the United States should approach the subject of Immigration

Purpose: In class, we discussed the differences between constructive and destructive forms of aggression – particularly argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness – and how the key to effective argumentation is refuting a person’s position on an issue (rather than attacking a person’s self-concept).

For this assignment, you will apply these concepts by analyzing a clip from the most recent Presidential election. In this clip, Presidential nominees Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton debate one another concerning how the United States should approach the subject of Immigration. Watch this video and, using your class notes and course readings from Unit 2 (Trait-Like Factors that Affect Public Messages), respond to the following:

Identify three points during the video at which either candidate attacked the other’s position

Identify one point at which each candidate attacked the other’s self-concept during the video (you should identify two attacks total – one attack for each candidate)

In class, we learned that quickly running out of arguments increases our likelihood of engaging in verbally aggressive behaviors. Discuss two ways in which you can prepare yourself ahead of time to engage in argumentation (rather than verbal aggression) about controversial issues.

You may access the video clip at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQy9B5wR1WE