Conflict (process) facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A conflict is like a big disagreement or a clash between people, groups, or even ideas. It happens when different interests, opinions, or beliefs bump into each other. Conflicts are a normal part of society. They can be about personal feelings, different races, social groups, political ideas, or even between countries.

Sometimes, conflicts are about feelings, thoughts, or theories. For example, an argument about ideas in school is an intellectual conflict. This kind of conflict can grow over time because people have different cultural values and beliefs.

When a group has a conflict, it usually follows steps. First, normal group activities get interrupted by an argument. This might be because people have different opinions, disagree, or there aren't enough resources for everyone. At this point, the group might not be united and could even split into smaller teams. This period of growing conflict can sometimes lead to a way to solve the problem. After that, the group might go back to working together, or it might break apart.

What is Conflict?

A professor named M. Afzalur says there isn't one perfect way to define conflict. One question is whether conflict is a situation or a type of behavior.

He looked at many definitions of conflicts in organizations. He found that all of them include opposing interests and efforts to stop the other side's views. So, he suggests that conflict is "an interactive process shown by differences, disagreements, or clashes within or between social groups." He also notes that a conflict can happen inside one person (called intrapersonal conflict). Conflict can show up as simple disagreements, then verbal arguments, and even getting in someone's way.

Another expert, Michael Nicholson, says conflict happens when people or groups want to do things that don't match up with what others want, need, or are supposed to do. Conflict is a step up from a simple disagreement. It involves people actively trying to harm each other.

How Emotions Affect Group Conflicts

Emotions play a big part in how groups interact and how conflicts start. The feelings a person's own group (the "in-group") has towards another group (the "out-group") are very important. These feelings between groups are often negative. They can range from feeling a bit uncomfortable around someone from another group to strong hatred. For example, at the University of Oxford, one study showed that group conflict became so intense it destroyed the organization.

Feelings towards other groups can be shown with words or without words. Experts say these feelings are based on two things: how friendly (warmth) and how skilled (competence) we think the other group is. Depending on how much warmth and competence we see, there are four main emotions we might feel towards an out-group.

Envy

You feel envy when you think another group is very skilled but not very friendly. Envious groups are often jealous of another group's achievements, whether they are symbolic or real. They see that group as competition.

Contempt

Contempt happens when you think another group is low in both skill and friendliness. This is one of the most common feelings between groups. In this case, people believe the other group is responsible for its own problems. They also think their conflict with that group can never be solved.

Pity

Groups that are seen as friendly but not very skilled are often pitied. Usually, pitied groups have a lower status than your own group. People don't believe these groups are responsible for their own failures.

Admiration

Admiration happens when you see another group as both friendly and skilled. However, this is very rare because it's hard for both conditions to be met. An admired group is thought to truly deserve its successes. Admiration is most likely when your group can be proud of what the other group has done, and when the other group's success doesn't get in your group's way.

Different Kinds of Conflict

Sometimes, conflict happens within a group. This is when the group's overall goals clash with the goals of at least one person in that group. Disagreements can also be between two or more people. Here are some more specific types of conflict:

Content conflict is when people disagree about how to handle a certain issue. This can actually be helpful because it can lead to good discussions and make people more motivated.
Relationship conflict happens when people disagree about each other personally. This kind of conflict makes people perform worse, feel less loyal, less satisfied, and less committed. It makes people irritable, negative, and suspicious. It comes from personal differences. It's about feeling annoyed or frustrated with others.
Process conflict is about disagreements over how a group should do its task, its methods, or how the group works together. While relationship and process conflicts are usually harmful, task conflict can be good. It encourages different opinions, but it's important to make sure it doesn't turn into a relationship or process conflict.
Task conflict is about disagreements in ideas and opinions about a specific task in a group. It has two good effects. First, it improves the quality of group decisions. Task conflict helps people understand the issue better, leading to better decisions. Second, it helps people accept group decisions. Task conflict can make people more satisfied with the decision and want to stay in the group.
Affective conflict is an emotional conflict that comes from personal differences and arguments. It often creates suspicion, distrust, and hostility. Because of this, it's seen as a negative type of conflict and a problem for those who experience it.
Cognitive conflict happens during tasks and comes from different viewpoints and judgments. It helps improve decision-making and allows group members to share information more freely. Cognitive conflict is seen as a positive tension that helps groups work well.

Here are other examples of conflict that can happen within a group or between groups:

Conflict of interest is when someone has many interests that could make their decisions unfair.
Cultural conflict happens when different cultural values and beliefs clash.
Ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more different ethnic groups.
Intergroup conflict is a conflict between two or more groups.
Organizational conflict is disagreement caused by different needs, values, and interests among people working together.
Role conflict is when a person has demands placed on them that don't fit together, making it hard to do both.
Social conflict is a struggle for power or independence between different social classes.
Work–family conflict is when the demands of work and family life don't fit together for a person.

Conflict is often seen as negative. However, in some situations, like sports competitions, a moderate amount of conflict can be good. It can help people understand each other, be more tolerant, learn, and be more effective. In a team, if the group learns to handle conflicts within itself, it can reduce negative outcomes. This leads to more teamwork, better cooperation, and better control over conflicts.

Five Beliefs That Lead to Conflict

Experts Roy and Judy Eidelson (2003) looked at how certain beliefs can start or stop conflicts between groups. They found five main beliefs that are very important: Superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness.

Superiority

For an individual: This is the belief that you are better than everyone else. People with this belief often think their own ideas are special and don't get along well with others. They might feel they are "special, deserving, and entitled."
For a group: When this belief applies to a large group, it's similar. The group thinks its own culture or way of life is better than others. This is sometimes called "ethnocentric monoculturalism."

Injustice

For an individual: This is the belief that you have been treated unfairly in a major way. This often comes from feeling "disappointed and betrayed."
For a group: This group feels wronged by another group for the same reasons an individual might feel wronged. It's about perceived unfairness from disappointment, betrayal, and mistreatment.

Vulnerability

For an individual: This is a constant worry. It's when a person feels they are not in control and are always "in harm's way."
For a group: A group that feels vulnerable because of an imagined future threat. This makes the group stick together more strongly and can lead them to act in ways that include hostility.

Distrust

For an individual: This is based on assuming others are hostile and mean. It makes people act in hostile ways and stops them from forming healthy relationships.
For a group: This belief creates a strong separation between your group (in-group) and another group (out-group). It's hard to fix because your group forms a lasting negative idea about the other group, which the other group then has to try and disprove.

Helplessness

For an individual: A deep belief that no matter what you do, the result will be bad. It's like feeling you "lack the necessary ability" or didn't get enough help, or that the environment is against you.
For a group: When a group has the same beliefs of being dependent and powerless. This also shows how much growth the environment offers.

How Conflicts Get Worse (Escalation)

Even if people involved in a conflict want to solve it quickly, certain things can make it harder to control. This is when conflict escalation happens. Conflict escalation means the conflict gets more intense in how much it involves people and the methods used. Several things can make a conflict worse, like people becoming more set in their ways, using tougher tactics, and forming alliances.

Being Certain and Committed

As conflicts get worse, people's doubts disappear, and they become very committed to their side. Once people make a choice, they try to find reasons to support it. They look for information that agrees with their views, ignore information that doesn't, and become more stuck in their original position. Also, people believe that once they say something publicly, they should stick to it. Sometimes, they might know their ideas have problems, but they keep defending them just to save face. If opponents argue too strongly, people might push back even harder and become more committed to their position.

Seeing Things Differently

How people react to a conflict depends on how they see the situation and the people in it. During a conflict, people often misunderstand each other's strengths, attitudes, values, and personal qualities. These misunderstandings can be very distorted.

Wrong Explanations

During a conflict, people often explain their opponents' actions in ways that make the problem worse. For example, the Fundamental attribution error happens when you assume an opponent's behavior is because of their personality, rather than the situation they are in. If a conflict goes on for a while, people might decide it's impossible to solve. They usually expect these kinds of conflicts to be long, intense, and very difficult to fix.

Misunderstanding Motivations

During a conflict, opponents often start to distrust each other. They wonder if the other side's desire to cooperate has turned into a desire to compete. This loss of trust makes it hard to go back to a cooperative relationship. People who naturally like to compete are the worst at understanding their opponents' true reasons. They often think others are competing with them even when they are not. Competitors are also more likely to look for information that proves their suspicions that others are competing. They also tend to hide their true intentions, sometimes pretending to be more cooperative than they really are.

Soft and Hard Tactics

People usually start conflicts using gentle methods. But as the conflict gets worse, their methods become stronger and harsher. For example, in one study, people were making birthday cards. When a researcher pretending to be another participant started hoarding materials, the other group members first tried to solve the problem with polite statements and requests. When that didn't work, they started making demands and complaints, and then used threats, insults, and anger.

Even though harsh tactics can overwhelm an opponent, they often make conflicts more intense. Studies have shown that being able to threaten others makes conflicts worse. They also showed that just having a way to talk doesn't always help solve a dispute. If one side threatens the other, the threatened side does best if it cannot threaten back. However, if both sides are equally powerful, they learn to avoid using threats if they are afraid of the other side fighting back.

Giving Back and Conflict Spirals

Often, conflicts get worse in a spiral because of the idea of "giving back." If one group criticizes another, the criticized group feels it's fair to do the same thing back. In conflicts, people often try to give back roughly the same amount. Sometimes they give too much (overmatching) or too little (undermatching). Giving too much might be a strong warning, while giving too little might be a way to show they want to make peace.

Few Against Many

When conflicts start, group members form alliances to gain more power. It's common for conflicts involving many sides to eventually become a conflict between two main groups. These alliances make the conflict worse because they pull more group members into the fight. People in alliances work not only for their own benefit but also to make things worse for those not in their alliance. Those left out react with anger and try to get power back by forming their own alliances. So, alliances need constant effort through bargaining and talking.

Annoyance and Anger

It's usually hard for most people to stay calm during a conflict. However, feeling more negative emotions like anger only makes the original conflict worse. Even when group members want to discuss things calmly, once they become set in their positions, emotions often take over from logical discussion. Anger can also spread: if a group member talks with someone who is angry, they might become angry too.

Solving Conflicts

Michael Nicholson says a conflict is solved when the disagreements between what people want and what they do are fixed. Negotiation is a very important part of solving conflicts. When setting up a process to handle conflict positively, it's important to be careful not to let it turn into negative types of conflict.

Conflict Mediation

Conflict is a social process that gets worse when people in a group take sides. One way to solve conflict is through mediation. This is when a group member who is not involved in the argument steps in to help. A mediator is someone who tries to solve a conflict between two group members by getting involved. Think of a mediator as a neutral guide who helps the people arguing find a solution to their disagreement.

Even though group members not involved in a dispute usually prefer to stay out of it, sometimes the conflict gets so intense that mediation becomes necessary. When a third party mediates, it opens up ways for the people in conflict to talk to each other. It allows them to share their opinions and ask for clarification from the other person. The mediator also helps protect against any shame or "loss of face" that either person might feel. They can do this by highlighting the positive parts of the agreement reached during mediation. For example, if two cashiers agree to take turns working weekends, the mediator might point out that now each worker gets a weekend off every two weeks.

The mediator can also help refine solutions and suggest counter-offers between the members. They can also adjust the time and place of meetings so that both sides are happy.

According to Forsyth (2010), there are three main ways mediators help:

Inquisitorial procedure: The mediator asks each person in the argument a series of questions. Then, they think about the answers and choose a solution that everyone must follow. This is the least popular way to mediate.
Arbitration: Here, both people explain their arguments to the mediator. The mediator then creates a solution based on what was said. Arbitration works best for conflicts that aren't too intense, but it's the most favored mediation style overall.
Moot: The moot approach involves an open discussion between the people arguing and the mediator about the problems and possible solutions. In this approach, the mediator cannot force a solution. After arbitration, a moot is the next most preferred mediation style.

In real life, solving conflicts often happens as part of daily activities, like in organizations, workplaces, and schools. For example, in a youth care setting, staff and residents deal with everyday things like meals and lessons, while also handling personal disagreements.