List the types of communication styles. Discuss passive and passive-aggressive communication styles.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Two people in a mutually satisfying, intimate relationship have different needs, desires, and expectations. How they choose to express them to their partner will affect the relationship’s communication climate. There are four communication styles that affect the climate of a relationship. They are the passive communication style, the aggressive communication style, the passive-aggressive communication style, and the assertive communication style.
A passive communication style is submitting to another’s desires and expectations while concealing one’s own. When a passive approach is chosen, a person values the relationship with the other person more than asserting one’s own needs. If used habitually, however, passive communication will eventually damage the relationship because the person will begin to resent his or her partner as he or she continually ignores his or her own needs, desires, and expectations.
A passive-aggressive communication style is expressing hostility indirectly. For example, one may say yes when he or she wants to say no or complain about others behind their backs. Over time, passive-aggressive behavior damages relationships because it undercuts mutual respect.