Defensiveness implies protecting ourselves from a perceived threat. The universal tendency is to try to “save face” by defending our presenting self when we perceive that it has been attacked by what social scientists call “face-threatening acts.” Frequently, this results in creating a climate that leads to a negative defensive spiral.
Discuss the following in your paper:
1. Explain who tends to be defensive: yourself, the other person, or both?
2. Explain what topics, issues, and/or concerns trigger this defensiveness.
3. Explain the consequences of defensiveness–How does it affect resolution, for example?
4. Label the defensiveness with the type of climate according to one of the six Gibb categories.
5. Explain what you could do to create one or more of the opposing supportive communication climates.
6. Explain how the defensiveness could be tamed. If you are not the one being defensive, consider the techniques you could use to address the defensiveness as explained in the text.
–
Defensiveness implies that we are defending ourselves against a perceived threat. When we perceive that our presenting self has been attacked by what social scientists call “face-threatening acts,” we have a universal tendency to try to “save face” by defending it. This frequently results in the creation of a climate conducive to a negative defensive spiral.
In your paper, address the following points:
1. Who is more likely to be defensive: you, the other person, or both?
2. Describe the topics, issues, and/or concerns that cause you to be defensive.
3. Describe the consequences of defensiveness, such as how it affects resolution.
4. Assign the defensiveness to one of the six Gibb categories based on the type of climate.
5. Describe what you could do to initiate one or more of the opposing supportive communication strategies.
