A study was designed to examine debater characteristics in terms of perceived social style (assertiveness and responsiveness) and to explore the effects of debater social style in terms of perceived substantive and interpersonal conflict and debate success. Measures of perceived assertiveness, responsiveness, social style, and conflict were obtained for 96 college debaters participating in 158 cross-examination type debates. The findings revealed the following: it is possible to classify debaters by social style based on data provided by other debaters, not all debaters have the same social style, individuals who are more assertive receive higher speaker points than those who are less assertive, social style has limited ability to predict the degree of substantive conflict, and highly responsive individuals engage in less interpersonal conflict than do less responsive persons. (FL)