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Journal of Business Communication, Vol. 17, No. 3, 33-43 (1980)
DOI: 10.1177/002194368001700304

Defensiveness in Communication: Its Causes, Effects, and Cures

William H. Baker

Brigham Young University

One of the basic tasks of the human brain is to maintain order and consis tency among all the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes it retains. A defen sive attitude occurs within people when they encounter communication situations with which they feel uncomfortable or will not tolerate. Defen siveness causes a listener to resist both speaker and message. In addition, defensiveness seems to be highly contagious and causes a deteriorating cycle between those communicating. Defensiveness can best be reduced by empathy, treatment of fellow communicators as equals, and genuineness.


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