4

I would like to know more about whether there are methods or techniques relating to the use of silence when dealing with openly aggressive or confrontational individuals.

In the past I have found myself in a few situations in ordinary social contexts and found using silence quite effective. I made sure I had enough personal space between the aggressor, was not reactive but showed confidence, when they moved forward I retreated mirroring their movements. Eventually they gave up hurling insults at essentially a mirror and walked away, because at that point I am guessing they realised how silly they looked and perhaps were concerned of the legal ramifications of being violent against someone who had clearly just been standing there listening to their tantrum for the past few minutes.

I am aware that the silent treatment is associated with passive aggressive behavior, but I am wondering if there are studies or methods that answer the question of whether silence is an effective method for dealing with openly aggressive/confrontational individuals?

Kat
  • 5,891
  • 2
  • 19
  • 35
FrontEnd
  • 299
  • 1
  • 9
  • 1
    Silence can be very openly agressive. It is usually the final stage of a premeditated actual attack. I'd describe your example more as passive, or non-engaging. – Stian Jun 09 '21 at 10:53

1 Answers1

4

There are many many applications of "the silent treatment", it is one of the many de-escalation techniques used in fields from clinical medicine (dealing with unruly patients, breaking out bad news...), social work (CPS, suicide prevention...) and, of course, personnel management

These are a few examples for you:

Application in Medicine - https://hub.tmlt.org/tmlt-blog/de-escalation-techniques-and-resources

4. Keep your tone and body language neutral. “The more a person loses control, the less they hear your words — and the more they react to your nonverbal communication. Relax your body and keep your hands in front of you, palms facing outward.”

10. Allow silence. By letting silence occur, you are giving the person a chance to reflect on what’s happening and how to proceed.

Application in the workplace - https://hsi.com/resources/conflict-de-escalation-techniques

  • Use a low, dull tone of voice and don’t get defensive even if the insults are directed at you.
  • Maintain a neutral facial expression.

And you can also check more resources in the Crisis Prevention Institute here, they have multiple blog posts explaining the different techniques: https://www.crisisprevention.com/en-GB/Blog/October-2017/CPI-s-Top-10-De-Escalation-Tips-Revisited

Juliana Karasawa Souza
  • 1,723
  • 2
  • 6
  • 17
  • 1
    This is great Juliana thank you, I will look through those links and post any questions I have – FrontEnd Jun 09 '21 at 11:36
  • So basically, dissociate whenever they're talking at you? Lol... I may sound flippant but have recently had experiences which confirm that any verbal response tends to exacerbate the situation. – DJG Jun 15 '21 at 15:33
  • @DJG no, not dissociate. If you read the other techniques, full de-escalation requires you to actually pay attention to what's happening and answer appropriately – Juliana Karasawa Souza Jun 16 '21 at 05:56