Passive-aggressive behavior "Passive Aggressive" redirects here. For the Radio Dept.

album, see Passive Aggr essive: Singles 2002V2010. Passive-aggressive behavior is the indirect expression of hostility, such as thr ough procrastination, hostile jokes, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or de liberate/repeated failure to accomplish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible. For research purposes, the DSM-IV describes passive-aggressive personality disor der as a "pervasive pattern of negativistic attitudes and passive resistance to demands for adequate performance in social and occupational situations". In psychology In psychology, passive-aggressive behavior is characterized by a habitual patter n of passive resistance to expected work requirements, opposition, stubbornness, and negativistic attitudes in response to requirements for normal performance l evels expected of others. Most frequently it occurs in the workplace where resis tance is exhibited by such indirect behaviors as procrastination, forgetfulness, and purposeful inefficiency, especially in reaction to demands by authority fig ures, but it can also occur in interpersonal contexts.[1] Another source characterizes passive-aggressive behavior as: "A personality trai t marked by a pervasive pattern of negative attitudes and characterised by passi ve, sometimes obstructionist resistance to complying with expectations in interp ersonal or occupational situations. Behaviors: Learned helplessness, procrastina tion, stubbornness, resentment, sullenness, or deliberate/repeated failure to ac complish requested tasks for which one is (often explicitly) responsible".[2] Passive-aggressive may also refer to a person who refuses to acknowledge their o wn aggression (in the sense of "agency"), and who manages that denial by project ing it. This type of person insists on seeing themselves as the blameless victim s in all situations.[citation needed] According to Living with the Passive-Aggressive Man, a self-help book, a passive man does little to get what he wants as it is too much effort to do so, and ran ges from the inept "loser" type to the conformist who does anything to be liked, avoids making waves and rarely says what he feels.[3] In social protest Passive-aggressive behavior is not the same as nonviolent resistance exhibited i n groups by social protesters. The nonviolent campaigner is working to defeat de mands for social behavior required by others as a method of defiance of authorit y figures. The person characterized by passive-aggressive behavior is not workin g with others toward a defined social goal.[citation needed] In conflict theory In conflict theory, passive resistance is a rational response to demands that ma y simply be disagreed with. Passive-aggressive behavior can resemble a behavior better described as catty, as it consists of deliberate, active, but carefully v eiled hostile acts which are distinctively different in character from the non-a ssertive style of passive aggression.[4] In the workplace Main article: Workplace conflict Passive-aggressive behavior from workers and managers is damaging to team unity and productivity. Warner in the ad for his online ebook says: "The worst case of passive-aggressive behavior involves destructive attitudes such as negativity,

sullenness, resentment, procrastination, 'forgetting' to do something, chronic l ateness, and intentional inefficiency." He advises that though the temptation fo r a worker may be to quit the job: "Stay and fight back: Engage in guerrilla tac tics to counteract passive aggression and defend your own work".[5] If this beha vior is ignored it could result in decreased office efficiency and frustration a mong workers.[6] If managers are passive-aggressive in their behavior, it can en d up stifling team creativity. De Angelis says "It would actually make perfect s ense that those promoted to leadership positions might often be those who on the surface appear to be agreeable, diplomatic and supportive, yet who are actually dishonest, backstabbing saboteurs behind the scenes."[7] Passive-aggressive personality disorder was listed as an Axis II personality dis order in the DSM-III-R, but was moved in the DSM-IV to Appendix B ("Criteria Set s and Axes Provided for Further Study") because of controversy and the need for further research on how to also categorize the behaviors in a future edition. Ac cording to DSM-IV, passive-aggressive personality disorder is "often overtly amb ivalent, wavering indecisively from one course of action to its opposite. They m ay follow an erratic path that causes endless wrangles with others and disappoin tment for themselves." Characteristic of these persons is an "intense conflict d ependence on other and the desire for self-assertion." Although exhibiting super ficial bravado, their self-confidence is often very poor, and others react to th em with hostility and negativity. This diagnosis is not made if the behavior is exhibited during a major depressive episode or can be attributed to dysthymic di sorder.[1] Passive-aggressive disorder may stem from a specific childhood stimulus[9] (e.g. , alcohol/drug addicted parents) in an environment where it was not safe to expr ess frustration or anger. Families in which the honest expression of feelings is forbidden tend to teach children to repress and deny their feelings and to use other channels to express their frustration. Children who sugarcoat hostility may have difficulties being assertive, never de veloping better coping strategies or skills for self-expression. They can become adults who, beneath a "seductive veneer," harbor "vindictive intent," in the wo rds of US congressman/psychologist Timothy F. Murphy, and writer/practicing ther apist Loriann Oberlin.[10] Alternatively individuals may simply have difficulty being as directly aggressive or assertive as others. Martin Kantor suggests thre e areas that contribute to passive-aggressive anger in individuals: conflicts ab out dependency, control, and competition, and that a person may be termed passiv e-aggressive if they behave so to most persons on most occasions. [11] Murphy and Oberlin also see passive aggression as part of a larger umbrella of h idden anger stemming from ten traits of the angry child or adult. These traits i nclude making one's own misery, the inability to analyze problems, blaming other s, turning bad feelings into mad ones, attacking people, lacking empathy, using anger to gain power, confusing anger with self-esteem, and indulging in negative self-talk. Lastly, the authors point out that those who hide their anger can be nice when they wish to be.[1 Treatment Psychiatrist Kantor suggests a treatment approach using psychodynamic, supportiv e, cognitive, behavioral and interpersonal therapeutic methods. These methods ap ply to both the passive-aggressive person and their target victim.[13] History Passive-aggressive behavior was first defined clinically by Colonel William Menn inger during World War II in the context of men's reaction to military complianc e. Menninger described soldiers who were not openly defiant but expressed their aggressiveness by passive measures, such as pouting, stubbornness, procrastination

, inefficiency, and passive obstructionism due to what Menninger saw as an "immatu rity" and a reaction to "routine military stress".[14] According to some psychoanalytic views, noncompliance is not indicative of true passive-aggressive behavior, which may instead be defined as the manifestation o f emotions that have been repressed based on a self-imposed need for acceptance. In the first version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder s, DSM-I, in 1952, the passive-aggressive was defined in a narrow way, grouped t ogether with the passive-dependent. The DSM-III-R stated in 1987 that passive-aggressive disorder is typified by, am ong other things, "fail[ing] to do the laundry or to stock the kitchen with food because of procrastination and dawdling."[14] Increased public exposure to the term has led to websites like Passive-Aggressiv e Notes, which uploads purportedly passive-aggressive emails, notes and signs, a lthough many of the examples are not correctly passive-aggressive in nature.