Conflict

Types of Interpersonal Conflict

Conflict can be difficult to analyze because it occurs in so many different settings. Knowing the various types of conflict that occur in interpersonal relationships helps us to identify appropriate strategies for managing conflict. Mark Cole states that there are five types of interpersonal conflict: affective, interest, value, cognitive, and goal.

Rarely do the types of conflict stand alone. Most often, several types of conflict are found intertwined within each other and within the context itself. How we choose to manage the conflict may depend on the types of conflict, the contexts that they occur within, and the situation.

Affective conflict occurs when people become aware that their feelings and emotions are incompatible. For example, if a romantic couple wants to go out to eat, but one of the partners is a vegetarian while the other is on the Paleo diet, what do they do? The food choices that they have committed to may impact their feelings for each other causing them to question a future together.

Conflict of interest arises when people disagree about a plan of action or when they have incompatible preferences for a course of action. Another way to understand this idea is to use the term conflict of roles. For example, you may run a business where you employ relatives. Firing an incompetent relative can cause problems with family relationships for a long time.

A difference in ideologies or values between relational partners is called value conflict. Our romantic partners eating preferences may be the result of strongly held religious or political views. Remember the old saying, "Never talk about religion and politics". Many people engage in value conflict about religion and politics.

Cognitive conflict is when people become aware that their thought processes or perceptions are in conflict. Our romantic partners may disagree about the meaning of a wink from a car salesman as they shopped for a new car. One of the partners believes that the wink was friendly and meant to build a relationship with the couple, but the other partner saw the wink as a sign that the couple would get a better deal if they looked seriously at a specific car.

Goal

Goal conflict occurs when people disagree about a preferred outcome or end state. Our car-shopping romantic partners need transportation. For one, the cost of a new car reinforces the choice made to continue using public transportation to save the money not spent for a house. For the other, buying a new car means gaining access to the suburbs where they can afford to buy a new house now.