You may know someone, or it may happen to you, who acts before thinking. This can cause a lot of problems, as it can involve saying hurtful things to someone out of the emotion of the moment or even, in some cases, breaking an object and even physically harming a person.
All of these examples would fit people with a high level of impulsivity, in which after the behavior, at a general level, comes regret and thoughts arise such as: “but what have I done?” We all sometimes would like to scream or say four things, however, not everyone manages to do so and this is because they have acquired the ability to think about the consequences of their actions before committing them.
Keep reading this Psychology-Online article so you can see the main characteristics of impulsive peoplewhat you could do to control your impulsivity and also so that you can know how to deal with impulsive people.
Characteristics of impulsive people
What are impulsive people like?
1. They act before thinking
As we said, one of the characteristics of impulsive people is acting without thinking about the consequences. It is common for them to say things without any type of filter and regret often comes later.
2. They do not tolerate frustration
It is very common for people with high impulsiveness to need to obtain the benefits of what they do quickly, so if this is not the case, they begin to get impatient, get angry, and want to throw in the towel. The same happens with failures, so failure for them implies a catastrophe. This low tolerance for waiting to obtain the rewards and results of the effort can be reflected in a low ability to save, problems in social, family and love relationships, at work if they do not obtain a promotion, etc.
3. They procrastinate
It is quite common for impulsive people to put off until tomorrow what they could do today. This is because, once again, they only think about the moment and what they want to do at that moment. For this reason, tedious tasks end up having to be done at the last minute since at the time they did not know how to think about the consequences of postponing it.
4. They perform compensatory behaviors
Due to their nerves and impatience, they have a high degree of anxiety. Therefore, they usually perform behaviors such as touch hair, move leg, eat…, to manage and relieve that anxiety a little. In the most serious cases they may commit self-harming acts for this purpose. Furthermore, the act of eating can end up causing a problem with eating, which can lead to .
5. They have addictions
Coupled with the previous point, these people can develop some type of addiction or risky behavior. This can be addiction to shopping, gambling, consumption of alcohol and other drugs, sex addiction or having risky sexual relations, among others. In this article you can see the .
6. They present irritability
As we have more or less been dropping in the other points, impulsive people, in general, tend to be angry all the time. It is common for them to have bad responses with others, to get upset about anything – colloquially they would be known as people “with a short fuse” – and they are very negative.
7. They have great arguments
What are impulsive people like in love? One of the characteristics of impulsive people is that they are quite jealous, they argue a lot with their partner. Furthermore, they often commit the impulse of, in discussions, leave your partner and later regret it within a few hours. In the same way, they are very impatient with their partner when it comes to responding to messages or if their partner needs to go at a slower pace in the relationship. Impulsive people usually have a hard time and even consider the relationship in Many occasions.
9. They have a tendency towards infidelity
People with impulsiveness tend to let themselves be carried away more by stimuli and the situation. Therefore, another characteristic of impulsive people in love is that they can become unfaithful.
Here you can find more information about .
Recommendations for impulsive people
Is there any therapy for impulsive people? Let’s see some tips for impulsive people:
Traffic light technique
Imagine that you are a traffic light:
- When you are in green It is when you are calm: that is the time to act.
- On the contrary, when you are in orange This is when you are starting to get angry: at this moment you have to start doing an activity that distracts and calms you and leave the conversation or activity you are doing for when you are back in the green.
- When you are in red That’s when you explode. At this moment it is more difficult to calm down, but you must act as when you are in orange. The ideal is not to reach this point and stop it sooner.
Relaxation techniques
Therefore, it is important to learn to relax. Many people like to listen to relaxation audios, while others find it useful to go for a run. Try different activities that help you forget what is making you nervous and choose the one that works best for you. In this article you will find different ones.
Setting short-term goals
When you have a long task to complete, to avoid that frustration and impatience, divide it. For example, if your goal is to lose 20 kilos, set a goal for every 2 kilos, this way it will be more rewarding and you won’t throw in the towel prematurely.
Positive vision
To realize your progress when you are pursuing a goal or to reduce anxiety and stress levels due to what happens on a daily basis, try to think of a positive aspect of each negative moment that happens to you. If, for example, you are in a traffic jam and you want to get home now, instead of thinking, put on your favorite playlist and enjoy that moment of listening to music without having anything else to do.
How to deal with impulsive people
If the impulsive person is not you, but someone in your environment, you may want to know how to deal with impulsive people. Below we will see several techniques to help impulsive people:
Use the scratched record technique
When a person is constantly rushing you to do something because they have very little patience, repeat the same response over and over again, as if you were a broken record. You should give this answer calmly and without letting their insistence make you lose concentration. An example is saying, “yes, I’m coming,” until he calms down.
Empathize
In the same way as the previous technique, it is useful for times when that person is putting excessive pressure on you and unfairly, at other times, also try to understand them. Asking him what exactly he needs and expressing that you understand why it is something so important and that is why he insists so much can greatly reduce his anxiety levels.
Don’t get into your game
Avoid taking what he tells you personally. Remember that it is a stress that you have with yourself and that it does not apply to you specifically. Maintain your temperance, a low, calm voice volume, in order to unconsciously force him/her to adopt the same tone.
Put limits
Just because he is an impulsive person does not justify him having to treat you badly. The moment he’s about to cross a limit, let him know that you won’t continue talking until he calms down.
let off steam
Relax by exercising on your own, talking to someone, or reading a book to release built-up tension.
Avoid “I’m sorry”
Don’t pay attention to him correcting everything he says to you when he does it in a bad way. Even if you are right, you should understand that if you ask that way you will not get anything in return. Pay attention to him once he has calmed down.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Impulsive people: characteristics and how to treat themwe recommend that you enter our category.
Bibliography
- Pueyo, A. (2001). Impulsivity and the brain. Department of Personality-University of Barcelona.
- Sola Gutiérrez, J., Valladolid, GR, & de Fonseca, FR (2013). Impulsivity: prelude to behavioral addictions? Health and drugs13(2), 145-155.