The multiple facets of asking a question and being asked are reviewed. A question may be assertive, searching, inquisitive, and hence may gratify both aggression and curiosity in the service of adaptation and mastery of the environment. When a patient is asked a question by his physician, the latter may be acting in an authoritative, intrusive, or domineering way toward his patient. The questioner either knows the answer or implies that he has the answer available, whereas he who is questioned either knows the answer or represses or denies it. If the defense is breached by the question there may be anxiety or