Conflict Management and Resolution

• Factors influencing conflict perception: family, past experiences, education in conflict management, and culture.
• Effective conflict management enhances relationships, careers, health, children's well-being, and overall happiness.
• Constructive conflict improves relationships by addressing issues, clarifying goals, and fostering understanding.
• Managing conflict involves recognizing tactics, motivations, and selecting the best resolution strategy.
• Conflict presents both danger and opportunity for growth.
• Conflict is an expressed struggle between interdependent parties with perceived incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference.

Lens Model of Conflict

• Each person's view includes themselves, the other person, and their relationship.
• Views consist of communicative behaviors and perceptions with situation or character-related attributions.
• People often attribute their behaviors to situations, but their conflict partner's behaviors to character.
• Communication creates, reflects, and determines the outcomes of conflict, whether productive or destructive.
• Strategic conflict involves parties having choices.
• Constructive conflicts have open communication and resolution satisfactory to all.
• Destructive conflict leaves participants feeling like they lost.

Four Horsemen of Relationship Apocalypse

• Criticism: Attacking personality or character.
• Defensiveness: Denying responsibility.
• Stonewalling: Withdrawing from interaction.
• Contempt: Showing disrespect or disdain.
• Complaints address behavior, while destructive criticisms attack character.

Destructive Conflicts

• The goal is to harm the other or win regardless of consequences.
• Destructive conflict spirals involve deteriorating communication with threats and manipulation.
• Avoidance conflict spirals include less interaction, reduced dependence, resentment, and third-party complaints.
• Women may avoid conflict to preserve relationships, while men tend to take charge and value autonomy; similarities outweigh differences.

Violence in Romantic Relationships

• 27% of women experience intimate partner violence.
• Violence affects physical, mental, sexual, and reproductive health.
• 41% of women and 26% of men experience sexual violence.
• Violence is an attempt to force one's will on another.
• 20% in the U.S. report experiencing partner violence within the past year.
• 30% of young teens/adults have experienced violence from someone they date.
• 40% of women murdered are killed by an intimate partner.
• Violence stems from learned patterns, patriarchal cultures, and poor communication skills.

Remaining in Abusive Relationships

• The study examines why battered individuals stay.
• Challenges assumptions that women in abusive relationships have low self-esteem or are masochistic.
• Gathering data took place from interviewing 100 women at an abused women’s shelter within 48 hours and follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12 months.
• Abuse severity: 77% needed medical treatment, 78% police intervention, 73% weapon threats; 94% saw partners as dangerous.
• Abuse frequency occurred weekly or biweekly.
• Satisfaction: How favorably one evaluates a relationship.
• Commitment: Intention to maintain, psychological attachment, and long-term orientation toward the relationship.
• Commitment is affected by satisfaction, alternative quality, and investment size.
• Nonvoluntary dependence is when satisfaction is low but commitment is high.
• Abuse severity didn't predict if a woman would return.
• Commitment level (alternative quality, investment size, and satisfaction) was related to positive feelings and staying.
• Staying/leaving correlated positively with investment size and negatively with alternative quality.
• Satisfaction did not predict stay/leave behavior.

Patterns of Violent Relationships

• A study examined patterns of violent relationships via severe and mild victimization.
• There was a national sample of (N = 3, 519).
• The most common violence was mutually mild, followed by mutually severe.
• More women reported severe mutual violence and mild perpetration.
• Men reported slightly more severe victimization than women.
• Women victims had more distress and less marital satisfaction, regardless of violence severity.
• Some individuals could be relatively "satisfied" despite violent relationships.
• Individuals in violent relationships experienced negative outcomes.
• Those "satisfied" were in different violence patterns.
• Many satisfied individuals seemed to be involved in mutual violence.
• Many others with mutually mild violence appeared extremely unhappy.

Relational Theory of Power

• Power is a property of social relationships, not an individual quality.
• Power is the ability to produce intended effects, influence behavior, and resist influence.

Nature of Power

• Another has power when they impact important goals and there are limited alternatives.
• PAB = DBA (Power of A over B equals B's dependence on A)

Raven and French’s Typologies of Power

• Reward power: Ability to reward.
• Coercive power: Ability to punish.
• Legitimate power: Authority or position.
• Referent power: Charisma or admiration.
• Expert power: Specialized knowledge.

RICE Model of Power

• Resource control is similar to legitimate power.
• Interpersonal exchanges are related to social networks.
• Communication skills are the ability to express ideas, listen, and convince people.
• Expertise is specialized knowledge.

Ways to Balance Power

• Restraint: Not using all available power.
• Interdependence: Collaborating for mutual gain.
• Calm persistence: Thinking before reacting.
• Active engagement: Using logic and assertiveness.
• Empowering low-power persons.
• Metacommunication: Talking about communication.

TRIP (Types of goals)

• Topic: What the conflict is about.
• Relational: How parties treat each other.
• Identity (face-saving): How one views themselves/ the other in conflict.
• Process: How conflict should be worked through.
• Prospective goals are initial goals.
• Transactive goals adjust during discussion.
• Retrospective goals are how one feels after the conflict.

Core Personal Issues

• Self-esteem (females: lower from adolescence to middle age; males: higher from adolescence but dropping in late middle age).
• Powerlessness
• Cultural differences (individual/collective)
• Gender expectations (societal expectations; social learning theory)
• Religion (nearly impossible to resolve)
• Emotions (loss of rationality)

Collaborative Goals

• Ensuring resolutions work for both parties in the short and long run.
• Specificity about agreed-upon behavior changes.
• Talk about what is occurring currently and how that will differ in the future.
• Acknowledging interdependence.
• Committing to the ongoing process.

Keys to Managing Conflict

• Clarify goals, considering both your and your partner’s goals.
• Consider underlying personal issues.
• Look for ways to collaborate.
• Emotions are conscious reactions with physiological and behavioral changes.
• Emotional patterns help you to know how to react to conflict.
• During high emotions it might feel like a loss of control.

Emotion Function in Conflict

• Conflict relies on emotion.
• Emotional events trigger old patterns.
• Emotional intensity can waiver.
• Emotional responses are part of personality.
• Emotions can escalate conflict.
• People evaluate and label emotions.
• High stakes evoke emotions.
• Maturity moderates emotional responses.
• Conflict emotions define relationships.
• Positive emotions contribute to conflict by communicating to improve relationships.

Transforming Conflict

• Requires transforming associated emotions.
• Core concerns: appreciation, autonomy, affiliation, status, and role.
• Use the X, Y, Z Formula.
• Listen to expressed feelings.
• Avoid verbal abuse.
• Fractionate.
• Use positive language.

Conflict Styles vs Tactics

• Conflict styles are patterned responses used in conflict.
• Conflict tactics are individual moves to carry out an approach.
• Five conflict styles/tactics: Avoidant, Aggressive/Competitive, Compromising, Collaborative, and Accommodating.
• Styles are based on: concern for self and others.
• Passive vs. Active styles
• Cooperativeness vs. Assertiveness

Avoidance Tactics

• Denial and Equivocation: direct/implicit denial, evasive remarks.
• Topic Management: topic shifts, topic avoidance.
• Noncommittal Remarks: Noncommittal statements/questions, abstract/procedural remarks.
• Irreverent Remarks: Friendly joking.

Competitive/Aggressive Tactics

• Personal Criticism
• Rejection
• Hostile Jokes/Questions
• Presumptive Remarks
• Denial of Responsibility

Compromise Tactics

• Appeal to Fairness
• Suggest a Trade-Off
• Maximize Wins/Minimizes Losses
• Offer Quick, Short-Term Solution(s)

Accommodation Tactics

• Giving Up/Giving In
• Disengagement
• Denial of Needs
• Expression of Desire for Harmony

Collaboration Tactics

• Analytic Remarks: Descriptive/Disclosing/Qualifying statements.
• Solicitation of Disclosure/Criticism.
• Conciliatory Remarks: Supportive remarks, concessions, acceptance of responsibility.

Choosing Conflict Tactic

• Avoidance: best when open communication is absent, energy investment is not justified, or costs are too high.
• Accommodation: best when the issue matters to one party, exploration has occurred, and power is nearly equal.
• Compromise: best when time is short, the issue is moderately important, and equal footing appearances matter.
• Competitive: best when the goal is more important than the relationship and competition signifies strength.
• Collaboration: best when the goal is very important, the relationship is long-term, and time is available.

Gottman and Silver

• Traditional remedies for marriage difficulties may be ineffective.
• Lasting marriages have a strong friendship, mutual respect, constructive conflict resolution, and overall liking.
• You can like and respect each other even if you are different and argue.

Predicting Divorce

• Harsh start-up: Initially negative interactions.
• The Four Horsemen -Protecting oneself from Flooding: Body language signals disengagement.
• Failed repair attempts: Ineffective efforts to de-escalate.
• Bad memories: Negative recollections.

Protecting Relationship

• Enhance love maps: Know partner's preferences + dreams.
• Nurture fondness and admiration.
• Turn toward each other (instead of away).
• Let your partner influence you (be open).
• Solve solvable problems.

Harmful Relationship Patterns

• Escalation: Negative responses increase intensity; remedy: break the cycle.
• Invalidation: Putting down thoughts/feelings; remedy: show respect.
• Withdrawal/Avoidance: Unwillingness to engage; remedy: schedule discussion; pursuers pursue constructively, withdrawers must deal with issues.
• Negative Interpretations: Assuming the other's motives are negative; remedy: avoid jumping to negative conclusions.

Attribution Theory

• Causal attributions underlie causes of events.
• Reactions depend on attributions.
• Stability attributions: the perception that the cause of the conflict is unlikely to change.
• Attribution errors: Overestimating dispositional vs. situational causes.

Getting Through Marital Problems

• Prioritize the relationship over the conflict.
• Win the battle but maintain a healthy relationship.
• Picking your battles
• Minimize hurt feelings
• Meaningful compromise suggestions

This quiz covers conflict management, resolution strategies, and the nature of conflict. Questions cover conflict definitions, constructive vs destructive conflict, and communication patterns in conflict.,.