The authors discuss and contrast the two main approaches in research on interpersonal and group argument; i.e. the Cognitive-Informational perspective, focusing primarily on the arguer, regarding arguments as a product of individual cognitive systems interacting with the immediate environment; and the Social-Interactional perspective, focusing on institutions, and in which individuals operate within social rules in order to produce the patterns characteristic of public argument. The authors further propose an approach which integrates both perspectives.