Intragroup Conflict

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Conflict
That man is an aggressive creature will hardly be
disputed. With the exception of certain rodents,
no other vertebrate habitually destroys members
of his own species. A. Storr If you have
learned how to disagree without being
disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret
of getting along -- whether it be business,
family relations, or life itself. Bernard
Meltzer
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Assumptions and Opinions

• Some people are always itching for a fight.
• People who are aggressive are mentally unstable.
• The human species is, by nature, aggressive.
• Women are the gentler gender.
• The best way to deal with conflict is to talk
  things over.

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What is Conflict?

• Examples of conflict situations
• Definition Disagreement, discord and friction
  that occur when the actions or beliefs of one or
  more members of the group are unacceptable to and
  are resisted by one or more of the other group
  members

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What is Conflict?

• Types
• Intergroup conflict involves two or more groups
• Intragroup conflict occurs within a group
• The course of
• conflict

5
Roots of Conflict

• Conflict questions
• Who has won (competition)?
• Who gets what (resource distribution)?
• Who is in charge (power struggles)?
• Who decides (decisional conflict)?
• Who do I like (personal conflict)?

6
Winning

• Conflict and competition
• Deutsch Cooperation versus competition
• Mixed-motive conflict and the prisoners dilemma
  game (PDG)

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Don
Confesses
Doesnt Confess
0 years
1 years
Doesnt confesses
10 years
1 years
Claire
10 years
5 year
Confesses
5 year
0 years

• Prisoners Dilemma Game

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Don
Choice B
Choice A
50
25
Choice A
- 25
25
Claire
- 25
- 10
Choice B
-10
50

• Prisoners Dilemma Game

9
Winning

• Conflict and competition
• The norm of reciprocity
• Social values orientation cooperators,
  competitors, and individualists
• Sex differences

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Sharing

• Sharing Social dilemmas
• Groups as social dilemmas Self-interest
  (self-serving) vs. group interest (group-serving)
• Types
• Social traps (commons dilemmas) exploiting
  shared resources
• Public goods dilemmas contributions to public
  goods (free-riding)
• Fairness dilemmas distributive vs. procedural
  justice, distribution norms
• Responsibility dilemmas egocentrism vs.
  sociocentrism

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Sources of Conflict in Groups

• Controlling Power struggles
• Deciding Substantive vs. procedural conflicts
• Liking and disliking Personal conflicts
• Attraction decreases conflict but disaffection
  (repulsion) increases conflict
• Conflict and diversity in groups
• Balance theory members respond negatively when
  they disagree with those they like

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Why Does Conflict Escalate?

• Uncertainty ? Commitment
• Perception ? Misperception
• Fundamental attribution error
• Misperceptions of motives
• Weak Tactics ? Stronger Tactics
• Trucking game experiment (Deutsch Krauss, 1960)
• Communication can increase conflict if used to
  threaten

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• Deutsch Krauss Trucking Game

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• Reciprocity ? Upward Conflict Spiral
• Norm of reciprocity
• Rough (overmatching) and light reciprocity
  (undermatching)
• Few ? Many (coalition formation)
• Irritation ? Anger (contagion)

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Conflict Management

• Commitment ? Negotiation
• Finding solutions by negotiating
• Types soft, hard, and principled negotiators
• Misperception ? Understanding

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• Strong Tactics ? Cooperative Tactics
• Types of tactics Avoiding, yielding, fighting,
  and cooperating
• Dimensions negative-positive and active-passive
• Upward ? Downward Conflict Spirals
• Axelrods Tit for Tat strategy (TFT)
• Characteristics provocable, reciprocal,
  forgiving

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• Many ? Few
• Mediators third party interventions
• Types inquisitorial, arbitration, moot
• Anger ? Composure

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Does Conflict, When Resolved, Lead to Improved
Group Functioning?

• Conflict is a natural consequence of joining a
  group
• Cooperation promotes group unity, harmony,
  conflict undermines the group
• Resolving non-personal conflicts may promote
  group functioning, but unclear

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In Sum

• 1. Uncertainty ? Commitment ? Negotiation
• 2. Perception ? Misperception ? Understanding
• 3. Weak Tactics ? Stronger Tactics ? Cooperative
  Tactics
• 4. Reciprocity ? Upward Conflict Spiral ?
  Downward spiral
• 5. Few ? Many (coalition formation) ? Few
• 6. Irritation ? Anger (contagion) ? Composure