I think there may be a type of behaviour which threatens(at least) to escalate violence exponentially...

eg someone might start with a change of tone in their voice, and the things they are saying, which then becomes a change in body language etc..

This, if picked up by someone dealing with them, might be quite scary,,,,as to what might happen if violence in voice and body language were to grow exponentially,....

I will leave it to your imagination as to how that progression might be imagined by someone.

Someone who uses this type of threat might then have quite a bit of control of a situation and development of ideas in a discussion, without there being any outwards sign of any real violence.

Some people might be perceived as being more violent, but they might not have adopted, or be using a threat of exponential violence escalation...maybe they have adopted a more obviously violent stance in order to protect themselves, by deterrent, from the exponentially violent people...

It perhaps is an evolutionary adaptation for control within a group/tribe...both forms of behaviour could lead to control of a group, depending on the group and the situation...