Interpersonal Conflict Resolution

Interpersonal Conflict

• Conflict is a perceived incompatibility of goals, values, or interests between individuals or groups
• Provocative actions intentionally or unintentionally escalate conflict
• Conflict avoidance is the act of choosing not to address or engage in conflict due to fear of negative consequences, discomfort, or lack of skill in managing conflict

Negotiating Agreements

• Negotiating agreements involve finding solutions to conflicts through distributive strategies (competition for resources) and integrative strategies (collaboration for mutual benefit)

Conflict Patterns in Relationships

• Serial arguing is a repetitive pattern of conflict in relationships
• Demand/Withdraw communication pattern involves one partner making demands or seeking change while the other withdraws or avoids the discussion
• Managing Demand/Withdraw requires understanding motivations, addressing communication patterns, and promoting constructive dialogue

Family Communication

• Parent/Adolescent Communication focuses on dimensions of warmth, openness, regulation, and control
• Topic avoidance and secrets differ in their reasons, types, and consequences within family communication
• Communicating closeness with siblings involves relational maintenance behaviors and motivations, such as commitment expression and verbal aggressiveness

Family Distancing and Parent-Child Estrangement

• Family distancing and parent-child estrangement have distinct definitions, misconceptions, types, and continuums
• Strategies for managing and increasing distance include understanding and addressing the underlying causes

Rhetoric and Political Communication

• Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through communication, often used in political discourse to influence beliefs or behaviors
• Communication technologies have a significant impact on U.S. American political life, including presidential rhetoric, media fragmentation, and shifts in news media and journalism

Effective Activism and Political Discourse

• Talking politics and saving democracy require public deliberation, deliberative democracy, and strategies for enhancing political participation and discourse
• Practices for effective activism in a digital age involve the role of social movements, media ecology, and promising practices for digital activism