Psychology of conflict: what it is, concept, types, structure, functions, causes, methods of resolution

The definition of a conflict, the causes of its occurrence, why it is needed, how it develops and what to do to resolve it - these phenomena are studied by the psychology of conflict. Studying its basics not only helps to get out of confrontation with minimal psycho-emotional losses, but also teaches you to avoid or prevent disagreements.

The concept of conflict in psychology

Conflict is understood as a confrontation between two or more opponents who have different points of view on some situation. Conflict (conflictus) from Latin - clash. The concept of conflict in psychology implies a clash of interests, differences of opinion, and opposition in achieving goals. A person’s entire life is spent resolving these disputes. Charles Lixon in his book Conflict. Seven Steps to Peace” noted with a bit of sarcasm: if there is no conflict in your life, check your pulse. The psychology of conflict confirms that disagreements between people occur constantly and are an integral part of their existence. Is this so bad? Let’s try to figure it out. Conflict is the opposition of desires; successful resolution of a tense situation will benefit the conflicting parties; in the psychology of a dispute, you need to feel the line at which the clarification of relationships occurs in a creative way. Violation of this boundary has a negative impact on both sides of the confrontation.

The structure of conflict in psychology includes:

object (what the dispute was about);
subjects (those between whom disagreements have arisen - individuals, groups or organizations);
flow conditions;
scale;
strategy and tactics of behavior of the subjects of the situation;
the final stage of the conflict (resolved, unresolved).

How to manage conflict

If you want to become a third party mediator in resolving a conflict, here are 16 simple steps to manage conflict:

Based on the information you have, present a general picture of the conflict and determine the essence, assess the needs and interests of both parties.
Have a conversation with the participant whose position seems more justified to you. Find out his vision of reasons, fears and desires. From his words, compose his vision of the opponent’s interests, desires and fears.
Talk to the second opponent in the same way.
Have a conversation with your first opponent's friends. They will help you create a more accurate picture of your interests, fears and aspirations.
Do the same with the friends of the second opponent.
Discuss the vision of the conflict (reasons, methods of regulation and possible consequences) with the informal leaders of the group.
Discuss with formal leaders.
Find out the real reason and distance yourself from the participants.
Identify their subconscious motives.
Indicate where each opponent is right and what is wrong.
Describe the possible best and worst possible outcome of the situation for each position. Find out if a compromise is possible.
Assess all possible, including hidden, consequences of your intervention.
Prepare and propose approximately four options for joint efforts of opponents to solve the problem. Moreover, there is a maximum program and a minimum program.
Discuss programs with friends and leaders, make changes if necessary.
Stick to your chosen plan, try to involve your opponents' friends.
Evaluate the positive and negative aspects of your experience.

As you may have noticed, this is a general plan for resolving conflict, universal for different species. Of course, it needs to be adjusted taking into account the specific situation and type of conflict. In its pure form, it is more suitable for resolving organizational conflicts.

Causes of conflict situations

The most common prerequisites for the development of conflict:

The root cause of discord may be banal dissatisfaction with something or someone. The situation worsens when hostility is cumulative. A person rams displeasure into himself, then breaks down and splashes out all the negativity. Usually in such a situation, emotions take precedence over reason.
Self-doubt is another reason for the psychology of conflict. This is the seed of internal disagreement that does not allow a person to prove himself as a self-sufficient person. Sometimes this condition leads to depression.
Another reason for the emergence of irreconcilable differences is the infringement of other people’s interests, which aggravate the situation by public clashes. Such disputes are common in society, especially in small groups.

Information-psychological confrontation, the concept of information and psychological warfare

Information-psychological confrontation has a long history. It arose simultaneously with the advent of armed confrontation as an integral part of armed struggle in the form of a psychological means of weakening the combat power of the enemy and raising the morale of one’s troops. Currently, information-psychological warfare has emerged as an independent form of struggle, which can be waged both without the direct use of military violence and in combination with military force. For many states, informational and psychological confrontation, especially manifested in such acute and aggressive forms as “color revolutions,” has become an extremely dangerous phenomenon [388].

Scientific and technological progress in the field of information and communication technologies, erasing national boundaries, and the successes of social psychology in the study of mass behavior are forcing the leadership of the leading world powers to reconsider their military concepts. The practice of targeted information and psychological pressure is spreading, causing significant damage to the national interests of warring states [388].

Currently, the US leadership is elevating activities for informational and psychological influence on the military-political leadership and public opinion of various countries, on the world community as a whole, to the status of the main content of preparation for military action [388].

Information-psychological confrontation is a process that reflects various levels of opposition from the conflicting parties, carried out by information and psychological means to achieve political and military goals. Such a broad interpretation of the phenomenon under consideration allows us to cover information and psychological actions carried out [400]:

at different levels (strategic, operational and tactical);
both in peace and war;
both in the informational and spiritual spheres;
both among friendly troops and among enemy troops.

In the system of information-psychological warfare carried out for military purposes, we can distinguish [400]:

information war;
psychological warfare.

Information war is the struggle of the parties to achieve information superiority over the enemy in timeliness, reliability, completeness of obtaining information, speed and quality of its processing and delivery to the performers [400].

In this case, both states and informal associations, for example, terrorist, religious or criminal groups, can act as parties.

Such a war includes the following areas of activity [400]:

obtaining the necessary information;
processing of received information;
protection of information channels from enemy penetration;
timely and high-quality delivery of information to consumers;
enemy misinformation;
disabling or disrupting the functioning of enemy information acquisition, processing and dissemination systems;
destruction, distortion, theft of information from the enemy;
development of more effective means of working with information than the enemy’s.

The means of conducting information warfare can be [400]:

information technology weapons;
means of suppressing enemy information systems, entering them in order to influence circulating information;
means of propaganda intervention.

A more detailed analysis of the concept of “information warfare” is presented in subsection 3.3 “Basic terms and definitions of information warfare.”

Psychological warfare is the struggle between states and their armed forces to achieve superiority in the psychological and spiritual spheres, as well as turning the resulting advantage into a decisive factor in achieving victory over the enemy. With this approach, information capabilities, along with purely psychological actions, act as a means of solving psychological problems.

Within the framework of psychological warfare, the following areas should be highlighted [400]:

mobilization and optimization of the moral and psychological forces of the nation and the armed forces in the interests of solving military problems;
protecting the population of one’s country and its armed forces from the corrupting information and psychological influence of the enemy (psychological counteraction; psychological cover; counter-propaganda; psychological protection);
psychological impact on the enemy troops and population in order to disorient them, demoralize and disorganize them (psychological warfare);
influencing the views, moods, and behavior of friendly and neutral audiences (countries, social groups, armed formations) in a direction favorable to achieving victory over the enemy.

Psychological warfare objectives [400]:

countering and protecting one’s troops from enemy psychological operations;
psychological warfare (impact on enemy troops and the population of hostile, friendly and neutral states, i.e. what foreign experts classify as psychological operations).

Considering the attacking aspects of information-psychological confrontation, the following goal of influence can be formed.

The purpose of information-psychological confrontation

The goal is to establish control over the strategically important resources of the enemy country by controlling people, forcing the population of the victim country to support the aggressor, acting contrary to their interests, without using the existing socio-psychological defense mechanisms [388].

The tasks of information-psychological confrontation in peacetime and threatened periods, the solution of which ensures the achievement of its goal [388]:

substituting traditional moral values and guidelines among citizens, creating an atmosphere of lack of spirituality, destroying national spiritual and moral traditions and cultivating a negative attitude towards the cultural heritage of the enemy;
manipulation of public consciousness and political orientation of social groups of the country's population to implement so-called “democratic transformations” in the interests of creating a situation of political tension and chaos;
disorganization of the system of state and military administration, creation of obstacles to the functioning of state institutions and command and control bodies of the armed forces;
destabilization of political relations between parties and associations in order to provoke conflicts, escalate an atmosphere of mistrust in government bodies;
intensifying the political struggle, provoking repression against the opposition - a network of non-governmental organizations (the so-called “democratic forces”) and individual “independent” activists;
reducing the level of information support for government and management bodies in order to make it difficult to make important decisions;
misinformation of the population about the work of government bodies, undermining their authority, discrediting government bodies;
provoking social, political, national and religious clashes;
mobilization of protest sentiments and initiation of strikes, riots and other actions of economic protest;
undermining the international authority of the state and its cooperation with other countries;
causing damage to the vital interests of the state in the political, economic, defense and other spheres.

In information-psychological warfare in wartime, similar tasks are solved, but the objects of influence and protection are the population and personnel of the armed forces of the opposing sides, as well as the systems of public opinion formation and decision-making, which include the political and military leadership [388].

Areas of information-psychological confrontation between states [392]:

geographical - establishing control over territory by encouraging separatist movements and terrorist activity in various forms on enemy territory, involving the enemy in low-intensity conflicts, as well as organizing changes in power, unrest of the masses and “color” revolutions;
economic - imposing enslaving loans on the enemy, imposing an embargo, organizing economic sanctions and provocations;
ideological - the formation in people of a given worldview - a generalized system of views on the world around them, the place and role of man in it, on the attitude of people to objective reality and to each other, as well as corresponding ideals and beliefs, principles of cognition and activity, value orientations;
informational - the use of slander, distortion of information, substitution of concepts, introduction of mental viruses and mythologies into the consciousness of the enemy population, as well as the organization of other information and psychological operations through the media or the Internet.

Source

Types of conflicts in psychology

For a deeper study of the essence of the confrontation, it is customary to divide it into categories. Types of conflicts in psychology are distinguished based on the following factors:

what preceded the discord;
what is the scale of the confrontation;
tactics chosen by the conflicting parties;
are there social consequences;
in what form the confrontation takes place.

There is a distinction between internal, in which there is a confrontation between the desires of an individual, and external, in which there is a contradiction between a person and surrounding factors. The external collision also has its own structure and consists of:

interpersonal disagreements;
intergroup conflicts;
occurring between a group and an individual.

Interpersonal disagreements are the most common type of showdown when different interests of subjects are affected. Intergroup collisions occur in areas where there is an accumulation of a group of people engaged in a common cause (work, college, school). Confrontation between the individual and the group is characteristic of the business sphere, in which the needs of the organization oppose the interests of an individual.

The psychology of conflict distinguishes between family and adolescent conflicts. A separate line is the clash of generations - the confrontation between fathers and sons.

To increase self-confidence, we recommend listening to audio trance from psychologist Nikita Valerievich Baturin:

Conflict is the result of an unmet need

If you understand the mechanism of conflicts, everything will fall into place. And the point is actually simple.

Every person meets many of their needs every day. We are designed in such a way that these needs are inherent, so we consciously (and even more often unconsciously) look for ways to satisfy them. And if we cannot find a way, we feel bad and look for an opportunity to fill the need at the expense of someone or something.

Naturally, the world did not sign up to satisfy all our requests, and solving this problem ourselves is not so easy. This is where conflicts arise.

Moreover, the causes of conflicts can be both healthy and neurotic.

Functions of conflict in psychology

The lack of skill in preventing confrontation or properly resolving it leads to a situation where the clash is destructive and can drag on for a long time. If the situation is under control, then the confrontation leads to the development of relations between the conflicting parties or completely solves the problem.

Confrontation can be creative when the conflict process involves maintaining interaction within the framework of cooperation or competition. When confrontation goes beyond the boundaries of civilized relations, such conflict has a destructive effect. Based on this, the functions of conflict in psychology are divided into constructive and destructive.

Design features:

the emergence of understanding between the conflicting parties;
establishing communication and information links;
desire for social change;
participation in maintaining harmony;
reassessment of values and established norms;
manifestation of loyalty to the members of the conflict.

Destructive functions:

dissatisfaction and irritation;
disruption of communication links;
decreased level of cooperation;
senseless rivalry;
seeing the opposing side as an enemy;
perception of your goals as the only possible ones;
refusal to interact;
a hostile attitude that develops into mutual hostility;
incorrect placement of emphasis: victory in the confrontation is more important than resolving the dispute;
violent methods of resolving problem situations.

It is not always possible to draw a clear line between constructive and destructive functions, since the bulk of confrontations are characterized by the presence of positive and negative functions simultaneously.

Conflictogens

Observations show that 80% of conflicts arise without the will of the parties involved. This is due to the peculiarities of our psyche and the fact that most people either do not know them or do not attach importance to them.

The main role in the emergence of conflicts is played by the so-called conflict toxins. This word means "promoting conflict."

We call words, actions (or inactions) that can lead to conflict the cause of conflict.

The insidious nature of conflict agents can be explained by the fact that we are much more sensitive to what others say than to what we say. There is even an aphorism: “Women do not attach importance to what they say, but they attach great importance to what they hear themselves.” Indeed, everyone is to blame for this, not just the fair sex. This special sensitivity to words addressed to us comes from the desire to protect ourselves, our dignity from possible attacks. But we are not so vigilant when it comes to the dignity of other people, and therefore we do not pay such strict attention to their words and actions.

Personal psychological defense arises unconsciously as a system of personality stabilization that protects the individual’s sphere of consciousness from negative psychological influences. As a result of conflict, this system works involuntarily, against the will and desire of a person. The need for such protection arises when thoughts and feelings that threaten self-esteem, the formed “ego-image” of the individual, the system of value orientations, reduce the individual’s self-esteem.

In some cases, a person’s perception may be far from the real situation, but a person’s reaction to the situation is formed on the basis of his perception, on how it appears to him, and this circumstance significantly complicates the resolution of the conflict. Negative emotions generated by a conflict can be quickly transferred from the problem to the personality of the opponent, who will complement the conflict with a personal counter-reaction. The more the conflict escalates, the more unsightly the image of the opponent becomes, which makes it even more difficult to resolve. This creates a vicious circle that is very difficult to break. It is advisable to do this in the early stages of the event, before the situation gets out of control.

Conflict management: psychology

The conflicting parties can remain in confrontation for a long time and even get used to this situation. As practice shows, in such relationships a detonator is triggered, which provokes open confrontation between the parties.

Or, on the contrary, a showdown occurs in a civilized way, but due to the unprofessionalism of the participants in the collision, the way out of the situation occurs incorrectly and leads to negative consequences.

Regulating relationships comes down to the ability to manage them. Moreover, conflict management is not always its solution. Sometimes it is more important to maintain good relations between those in conflict than to resolve the confrontation.

Fundamentals of information-psychological warfare

Currently, the theory of information warfare in the psychological sphere has been studied quite widely and deeply. Leading domestic scientists, such as S.G. Kara-Murza [20], G.V. Grachev [26, 33], V.M. Shchekotikhin [32], S.N. Bukharin, V.V. Tsyganov [34, 35], S.A. Modestov [37], I.N. Panarin [52, 53], V.A. Lisichkin, L.A. Shelepin [54], A.V. Manoilo [71, 72, 318], G.G. Pocheptsov [73, 74, 272], S.P. Rastorguev [75, 76, 79, 277], D.A. Novikov, A.G. Chkhartishvili [77, 78], D.A. Gubanov [77], A.G. Karayani [80, 400], D.A. Volkogonov [81], N.L. Volkovsky [83], V.A. Minaev, A.S. Ovchinsky, S.V. Skryl, S.N. Trostyansky [85], V.F. Prokofiev [303], V.P. Sheinov [315], V.A. Barishpolets [390], L.V. Vorontsova, D.B. Frolov [402], V.G. Krysko [405], as well as other specialists, studied in detail various aspects of information warfare in the psychological sphere.

Below we review the main aspects of the development and use of psychological and information-psychological weapons in modern military conflicts. At the same time, individual aspects of this topic are presented in more detail in the above-mentioned works.

Resolution methods

Psychological conflict has several ways of resolution.

Avoiding or moving away from a collision. In this situation, one side does not react or pretends that it is indifferent to the discord that has arisen.
Mitigating disagreements. One of the conflicting parties agrees with the claims or is looking for an excuse.
Agreement. Both sides find a compromise in order to resolve the current situation.
Use of force. In such a situation, one side of the conflict is forced to accept conditions that facilitate the resolution of disagreements.
The best way to resolve conflict in psychology is to prevent it. To do this, you need to learn to build a dialogue, listen to your opponent, learn to articulate your desires, without counting on your partner to guess what you want.
Don't get into an argument when you're excited. In a state of passion, you can cause irreparable psychological trauma to your opponent, and sometimes physical trauma, which you will regret in the future.
Analyze the situation, find the cause of the collision, tell your interlocutor about your discovery. Do this while remaining calm.
Discuss together a way out of the current confrontation.

Most often, excess emotionality prevents you from avoiding confrontation. If the goal is to prevent a conflict of interests, you will have to learn to control your inner impulses. Thanks to these qualities, a person is able to adequately assess the situation in which he finds himself. And the ability to keep your emotions under control helps you convey your arguments to your opponent with maximum effectiveness. Another good quality is the awareness of the right of each individual to independently resolve certain situations.

The situation is more complicated when it comes to intrapersonal discord. A person faces his problems alone, sometimes without understanding their essence. To successfully resolve the situation, you need to find the root cause of the internal confrontation. Only then can you look for ways to solve it. Often a person has to take his condition for granted and then the discord will be reduced to a minimum. It is not always possible to solve this issue on your own, since getting to the bottom of the truth is quite difficult.

Whatever the background of the confrontation in which you find yourself involved, try to behave with dignity. Carry on a conversation without raising your voice. Don't let your emotions ruin your relationship. As they say, a bad peace is better than a good quarrel. If a collision cannot be avoided, make every effort to ensure that the situation does not affect your deepest feelings. When it comes to family discord, do not try to hush up disagreements, say out loud what exactly bothers you, learn to find a compromise, and any conflict will help your relationship reach a new creative level.

A measure of the subject's psychological stress

Dissatisfaction is a feeling of dissatisfaction and an expression of dissatisfaction with something or someone, manifested by a grimace, intonation, plasticity, and sometimes vocabulary. On the one hand, dissatisfaction is not yet a conflict, since the subject is hardly aware of the cause of this state; the object of unrealized interest is still on the periphery of consciousness, but not at its center. On the other hand, dissatisfaction is already a conflict, since circumstances lead to a conflict of interests, although this conflict of interests is not yet clearly defined.

A person asks to be introduced at work during a visit to the dentist. The colleague complies with the request, quietly muttering to himself: “They always ride on me.” There seems to be no conflict here. But again, it doesn't seem like it's due to a flaw.

Discontent is a thin veil, indicating that, like a subtle ghost, contradiction hovers between subjects. Unacknowledged and therefore unresolved, it thickens, becomes more obvious and turns into a dispute.

Disagreement is a difference of opinions and views that have personal meaning to the subjects, such that they cannot compromise their opinions and views.

The next stage in the development of disagreement tension is resistance, which is an action that prevents another action.

There can be a long period of time between dissatisfaction and disagreement. The time between contradiction and confrontation is short: finally, awareness of the contradiction has occurred, and each subject knows what he wants, his desire to achieve his goal is growing rapidly. Thus, if subjects do not come to their senses here and now, do not use their active imagination, do not paint a picture of future relationships, do not direct their efforts to find a way to resolve the contradiction, they will not notice how they will find themselves at a level of confrontation where the level of tension is excessive.

The paradigm of confrontation is “I don’t want!” Every subject takes this position. (His version is “I still want it!”). The interests of the subject have eclipsed the whole world, the situation in which he and the other subject find himself, relationships, business, circumstances and, most importantly, the future. Everything is focused on a specific interest. It is difficult to get out of the confrontation, because the subjects of the conflict drive themselves into a tough position.

Conflict reaches its highest level of tension in confrontation, in the struggle with someone or something that, in the opinion of the subject, interferes with the achievement of a goal, the realization of interests. Since at a moment of high psychological stress it is the other person who is usually perceived as an obstacle, all forces are directed towards destroying this person. Methods of destruction or suppression are difficult to control, so the use of physical force, as well as humiliation, insult and insult to the opponent of the conflict, cannot be ruled out. If at the first stage (discontent) good relationships and connections have not yet been broken and there is no conflict yet, but at the same time it is already present, then at the last stage (confrontation) all connections are broken and the conflict has essentially disappeared, but it is still present.

The type of resolution we choose determines how the conflict will be resolved and how the relations between the subjects of the conflict will develop. This is the third stage of the conflict.