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Some people act in ways that provoke surprised or shocked reactions from others, mainly because they enjoy getting those reactions and not because of any inherent desire to perform the action itself. For example, I suspect that this is a primary motivating factor behind the recent Brony phenomenon -- the My Little Pony show itself would probably not attract hords of adult male fans, were it not for the incredulous reactions which the fandom elicits. Is there a word to describe this sort of behavior?

("Provocative" seems off -- it refers to the fact that a reaction is elicited, but not that this is the motivation behind the behavior.)

tchrist
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Malper
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  • sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, hypocritical – lexeme Dec 27 '13 at 06:57
  • Taunting..? You purposefully act in a way to annoy others in a negative way. – Eugene T Dec 27 '13 at 06:58
  • @EugeneT Nope, I think this question is focused on some kind of hipocracy. – lexeme Dec 27 '13 at 07:01
  • @brick No, I'm not thinking specifically of a case involving hypocrisy. – Malper Dec 27 '13 at 07:12
  • The person is often informally called a 'stirrer'. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 27 '13 at 22:16
  • The question is not an exact duplicate per se, but the answers so far steer it right into that direction. So I am putting it on hold lest people invest more time into bringing up all the same adjectives all over again. Please have a look. If none of those fit the bill, please edit your question to specifically mention that other question and why the answers to it are of no use to you. Then we can reopen this one. Thank you. – RegDwigнt Dec 27 '13 at 22:40

4 Answers4

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On the internet, this is known as trolling. In other spheres I would say it's just an aggressive form of narcissism.

But, I think you're on the money with provocative:

causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, esp. deliberately.

Tom McClure
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  • "trolling" seems better than "provocative" -- trolling is always done because other people react, which need not be true of provocative behavior. – Malper Dec 27 '13 at 07:14
  • I was thinking about this question some more and now would prefer "antagonistic" as closer to the OP's intent. – Tom McClure Jun 26 '14 at 15:04
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The noun form of provocative is provocateur(s). These are folks who could be described as

  • instigators
  • rabble rousers
  • demagogues
  • sowers of discord among brothers
  • troublemakers
  • firebrands
  • gadflies
  • contraries
  • pains in the *ss!
rhetorician
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The word I would use is tease. That is someone gets their pleasure of teasing others, and watching their reactions.

Tom Au
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Antagonistic? When you antagonize someone you try to get a reaction out of them, but it may be a bit nastier than what you're looking for.

Laura
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