Chapter 12- Interpersonal Conflict

Hunter Robinson

What is interpersonal communication?

• Interpersonal conflict is disagreement between or among connected individuals who perceive their goals as incompatible.

5 Styles of Interpersonal Conflict 1) Competing- I win, you lose

2) Avoiding- I lose, you lose

3) Accommodating- I lose, you win

4) Collaborating- I win, you win

5) Compromising- I win and lose, You win and lose

Competing Conflict Style

• Presents great concern for your own needs and desires, and little for others.

Avoiding Conflict Style

• Suggests that you are relatively unconcerned with your own or with other’s needs and desires

Accommodating Conflict Style

• Sacrifice your own needs for the sake of the needs of the other person.

Collaborating Conflict Style

• Concern is with both your own and the other person’s needs

Compromising Conflict Style

• Some concern for your own needs and some concern for the other’s needs

Avoidance and Active Fighting Strategies

• Avoidance of conflict may involve actual flight

• Non-negotiation- you refuse to direct any attention to managing the conflict or to listen to the other person’s argument

Force and Talk Strategies • Force- may be emotional or physical; either

way the issue is avoided and the person who “wins” is the one who exerts the most force.

Face-Detracting and Face-Enhancing • Beltlining- hitting

“below the belt” in a conflict

• Blame- instead of focusing on a solution to the problem, you try to affix the blame on the other person

Verbal Aggressiveness and Argumentativeness

• Verbal aggressiveness- an unproductive conflict strategy in which one person tries to win an argument by inflicting psychological pain by attacking the other person’s self-concept

• Argumentativeness- refers to a quality to be cultivated rather than avoided

Assignment One

• Text Book Pg. 292, questions 1-10

Assignment 2

• Textbook p. 296, Critical Thinking questions 1-7- e-mail in for homework grade

Facebook Assignment

• Answer the following question in a FB post.

• What do you think is the most effective conflict style and why? Which do you utilize most and give an example.

Tumblr Post

• Post a video from either a television show or movie representing one of the conflict styles and explain which one it is.

References

• The Interpersonal Communication Book

• Images courtesy of Google.com