A defensive spiral occurs when protective or deterrent measures appear threatening to another party and elicit stronger countermeasures. The variant examines how actions communicate beyond private intentions, while retaining scrutiny of motives, legitimate boundaries, unequal power, and conflicts that are not adequately explained as reciprocal defense.
- FamilyModel
- Category of its source unitTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainConflict & Negotiation
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.