Conclusions
The implications of the above material for the parent, the
teacher, the manager, the administrator, or the therapist are fairly obvious.
Arousing defensiveness interferes with communication and thus makes it difficult—and
sometimes impossible—for anyone to convey ideas clearly and to move
effectively toward the solution of therapeutic, educational, or managerial
problems.
© 1961 J.R. Gibb
* Reprinted from The Journal of Communication, Vol. 11, No. 3, September 1961, pp. 141-148. The article also appeared in ETC: A Review of General Semantics, Vol 22, No. 2, June 1965, pp. 221-230.
Footnotes:
(1). J.R.
Gibb, "Defense Level and Influence Potential in Small Groups," in L.
Petrullo and B. M. Bass (eds.), Leadership and Interpersonal Behavior
(New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961), pp. 66-81
(2). J. R. Gibb, "Sociopsychological Processes of Group
Instruction," in N. B. Henry (ed.), The Dynamics of Instructional Groups
(Fifty-ninth Yearbook of the National Society of the Study of Education,
Part II, 1960), pp. 115-135.