You should always aim to sound assertive and not stubborn. Remember there is a very thin line between aggression and assertiveness. Assertive behavior is about putting your point of view across in a positive way without ‘steam-rollering’ the other person; aggressive behavior means standing up for your rights regardless of anyone else, and submissive behavior means accepting what comes your way.

To clarify this: when you are assertive, you are cool, calm, in control and objective. When you are angry, stubborn and shouting, you appear threatening to others (through the pitch and volume of your voice, your facial expression or hand gestures), then other members of the group start reacting negatively to you, either by ignoring you or by shouting back at you. If this happens you can be certain that you are being aggressive.

There is a very thin line between Aggression and Assertiveness.

Do not use slang or colloquialisms in your speech and do not display insensitivity in your statements. Insensitivity to others shows a lack of maturity, and viciousness. You should always be cautious about other people’s feelings on sensitive issues not just in the Group Discussion but in every day issues as well.

You may wonder if it is all right to ask questions for the purpose of clarification. It is fine to do so, but not for the purpose of playing the devil’s advocate and proving them wrong. By behaving in this manner you hamper the flow of the Group Discussion. Pointed questions unsettle the other participants and the quality of the Group Discussion deteriorates. This would reflect badly on you. If your contribution to the Group Discussion consists only of questions asked to other participants, it may not reflect well on you as it would indicate that you are very quick to question others but have no original thoughts of your own. Ideally we would not recommend interrupting other participants in a Group Discussion, as it might be interpreted as a sign of lack of group orientation; but depending on the situation in the Group Discussion, if you feel you can feel that interrupting is genuinely called for, then following are some of the ways you can use to interrupt:
-    “Excuse me, but I feel that what you are saying isn’t universally true…”
-    “Yes. I agree with your idea, and I would like to add on to it…”
-    “Yes. I think you are right when you say that, but could you clarify what if…”
The words can be anything; the idea is to be positive and polite.

Humor is also something that is acceptable if the Group Discussion is fairly relaxed. But in a competitive situation, where the participants are tensed, your attempts at humor may fall flat. Also the panel may view your attempts to be humorous as a lack of seriousness that would go against you. It is better to play safe rather than attempt something, which may have negative repercussions.