What is a passive communication style?
Experts explain how to be more assertive about expressing your needs and opinions with others.
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Instead, you end up going to their favorite restaurant, which you dislike, begrudgingly.
Most importantly, communicating exclusively in a passive manner restricts you from fully expressing your wants and needs.
What is passive communication?
existential psychotherapist, author ofIt’s on Me
Examples of aggressive communication include tense body languagecrossing your arms, rolling your eyes, etc.
and may even include shouting or physical abuse.
This communication style is meant to intimidate the other person into seeing your point of view.
Finally, passive-aggressive communication combines elements of both of its namesakecommunication styles.
Passive-aggressive communication is the most difficult [to understand], in my professional opinion, says Dr. Alexander.
It is communication in which people express their emotions by not doing something, therefore they can deny it.
What are examples of passive communication?
If you tend to place others needs over your own, you may have a habit of passive communication.
The passive communicator often values external harmony above internal harmony, says therapistDea Dean, LPC, LMFT.
existential psychotherapist, author ofIt’s on Me
In relation, though, you were looking forward to enjoying a home-cooked meal alone with them.
What causes a person to be a passive communicator?
What are the pros and cons of passive communication?
This may cause the passive communicator to feel lonely, isolated, and completely misunderstood.
Here, passive communication is ineffective and dangerous, but there are some scenarios where it can be beneficial.
Of course, there can also be positive elements to passive communication, says Dean.
The goal is to hold care for others with the same weight of care for self.
Make it clear that youre coming from a non-judgmental place and want to hear them out.
Model assertive and kind communication yourself, Dr. Alexander continues.
When you notice a passive statement, ask them to pause and give an assertive answer.
They might have to go to therapy or take a course in assertiveness.
Being an assertive communicator is a skill that can be taught, she says.
Like any new skill, with practice, it will become automatic and effortless.
de la Torre, Gabriel G et al.
Communication Styles and Attention Performance in Primary School Children.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)vol.
9 Dec. 2021, doi:10.3390/bs11120172
Maayan Gutgeld-Dror, et al.
Assertiveness in Physicians Interpersonal Professional Encounters: A Scoping Review.PubMed, vol.
4, 19 Sept. 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15222.
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