For more many decades, Jack Gibb's observational research has been used as a framework for both describing and prescribing verbal and nonverbal behaviors that contribute to feelings of either supportiveness or defensiveness.
Gibb spent several years listening to and observing groups of individuals in meetings and conversations, noting that some exchanges seemed to create a supportive climate, whereas others created a defensive one.
Words and actions, he concluded, are tools we use to let someone know whether we support them or not. Researchers have identified ways we use language to confirm or disconfirm others.
A confirming response is a statement that causes others to value themselves more. A disconfirming response is one that causes others to value themselves less.
To minimize or eliminate the arousal of defensiveness in our own relationships, we need to understand the stimuli that can cause us (or others) to become defensive in the first place and substitute supportive behaviors.
Jack Gibb identified six such defense-causing behaviors and isolated six contrasting behaviors that, when exhibited, help create a supportive climate that will reduce the level of threat individuals experience.
The Gibb's Categories of Defensive & Supportive Behavior
| Defensive Behavior |
Supportive Behaviors |
| evaluation |
description |
| control |
problem orientation |
| strategy |
spontaneity |
| neutrality |
empathy |
| superiority |
equality |
| certainty |
provisionalism |
Discuss in your own words (a) why the defensive behaviors identified by Gibb would NOT be helpful in a therapeutic listening situation and (b) why the supportive behaviors would be.
In your response, provide at least one descriptive personal example that illustrates some of these characteristics.