What is Passive Behavior? Characteristics and Consequences

The Passive behavior It is that behavior that manifests itself in people in insecurity when interacting with others in speaking, in their constant search to please the individuals around them regardless of their own good and avoiding confrontations with others. Mostly this type of behavior becomes more evident in verbal communication.

A person with passive behavior leads a lifestyle characterized by"running away." He often lets his rights be violated because he is not able to openly express his feelings, thoughts and opinions.

Passive behavior

As a result, it allows others to violate their rights and not respect it. It may also be expressed in an"autoderrotist"way, with apologies, lack of confidence, so that others give little importance to what he says or does.

A passive person is constantly inhibited, shy and reserved. He does not achieve his goals and goals in life so he lives in constant frustration, unhappiness and anxiety, allowing others to choose for it.

This type of people act in this way because they prefer not to deteriorate relationships with other people, so they adopt submission behaviors waiting for the other person to capture their needs.

Characteristics of passive behavior

A person with passive behavior can usually act as follows:

1-Accuse others for their actions.

2-Express indirectly what annoys him instead of facing the problem.

3-It can be dishonest.

4-It avoids the problems and the responsibility that has on them, hoping that they are solved by themselves or that others take care of the problem.

5-The others take advantage of him / her easily (in addition, it fosters this attitude).

6-Usually have feelings of insecurity and inferiority, which are reinforced whenever it comes into contact with an aggressive person.

7-She is angry with herself because she knows that others take advantage of her.

8-She is an expert in hiding her feelings.

9-She is shy and reserved when she is with other people.

10-Does not know how to accept compliments.

11-It is exhausted and does not have much energy or enthusiasm for anything.

12-His attitude ends up irritating others.

13-Absorbs the energy of others.

14-It can be recognized by your typical body language and verbal.

Often a person who exhibits passive behavior may have the following characteristics:

Nonverbal behavior

Eyes that look down, low voice, hesitations, helpless gestures, denying importance to the situation, sunken posture, can totally avoid the situation, twisting hands, hesitant tone or complaint, false laughter, among others.

Verbal behavior

Among his common phrases are always:"maybe","I guess","I wonder if we could...","would you care a lot...","only","do not you think...","ehh"," Really is not important","do not bother", among other expressions.

Effects

Interpersonal conflicts, depression, helplessness, low self-esteem , It hurts itself, loses opportunities, tension, feels uncontrolled, feels lonely, does not like itself or likes others and / or feels angry.

A person with passive behavior does not necessarily have all of the above characteristics, this can vary from one individual to another.

Passive-aggressive behavior

If a person expresses his emotions in a negative way, that is to say, by hitting objects, people, breaking things or shouting, we may find ourselves confronted by an aggressive but not passive person.

When a person presents both behaviors, he does not express them openly but he does contain all those Negative emotions Which apparently does not show.

A person with this type of behavior tends to"keep it all,"but he does not forget the drawbacks, but uses other strategies to channel aggressiveness by demonstrating his hostility in another way.

A person with passive-aggressive behavior can present these actions.

  • It shows resentment, continuous reproaches, sarcasms.
  • Stop talking or listening to the other person.
  • It takes a long time to complete any task.
  • He makes nonsensical reproaches.

Behind this behavior there is some conflict and it does not resolve it assertively. An assertive person is able to exchange opinions with others, make proposals, improvements, suggestions or properly necessary complaints without insult.

Consequences of passive behavior

The objective of a person with this behavior is to quiet others and avoid conflicts or confrontations of any kind.

For passives, avoiding or escaping anxiety-producing conflicts is comforting; That is why the behavior is inhibited.

Although, on certain occasions, one's own rights must be ceded in order to maintain good relations with one's peers, it is necessary to understand that if this behavior is exaggerated and frequent, it is not healthy.

This conduct will incur injustice to itself and unhappiness by not being able to forge a fairly normal life.

By acting condescendingly or passively, one's own ideas, thoughts, or feelings are not expressed for fear of the reaction of others.

A person with this type of behavior is not expressed honestly, it is not clear and precise. With these actions little by little it generates an aggressive attitude toward it, because it does not get what it wants.

Especially because he perceives the disrespectful way in which his surroundings treats him, although he does nothing to avoid it. Just accept it.

This type of people by systematically acting in a passive way, negative experiences are destroying their self-esteem and confidence to the point that they lose respect for themselves.

This brings, as mentioned before, abuse of power by others making the taxpayer always be and feel like a victim.

References

1. Ajzen, I., (2005), Attitudes, personality and behavior. New York, USA, Publisher: Open University Press.

2. Casares, I; González, B., (2000), The Social Skills in the Curriculum. Spain. Editorial: Center for Research and Educational Documentation.

3. Dalton, M., Hoyle, D., Watts, M., (2007) Human Relations. Mexico. Editorial: Thomson.

4. Kaplan, H., Bally, S., Garretson, C., (1985) Speechreading: A Way to Improve Understanding. Washington DC, USA, Publisher: Clerc Books.

5. Luke, B., (2017) Managing Stress. USES. Editorial: World Headquarters.

6. Angelis, P., (2009) Blindsided: Recognizing and dealing with passive-aggressive leadership in the workplace.USA.

7. Bedell, J., Lennox, S., (1996) Handbook for Communication and Problem-Solving Skills Training: A Cognitive-Behavioral Approach. New York, USA. Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc


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