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1.
What is the difference between conflict and conflict management?
2.
What are three benefits of engaging in productive conflict?
3.
Identify three conflict triggers in yourself and others.
4.
List four forms of provocation identified by your textbook.
5.
Provide a brief example (real or hypothetical) to illustrate identity threats as a form of
provocation.
6.
Describe the destructive tendency called taking conflict personally (TCP).
7.
Contrast an uncertain communication climate versus a defensive climate.
8.
In the context of online conflict, what is the difference between cyberbullying and
trolling?
9.
List two cooperative strategies that can be used to effectively manage conflict.
10.
What is the difference between probing and playing devil´s advocate?
11.
In a single sentence, explain why compromise is not considered a win-win approach to
conflict management.
12.
Provide a brief example of a conflict you have managed through compromise.
13.
What are the benefits of being a direct fighter?
14.
List and describe the common triggers that lead to conflict, and provide a brief example
to illustrate each trigger.
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15.
Briefly explain the influences that affect the way conflict is managed in a relationship.
16.
Define communication climate.
17.
How does culture influence the ways in which people approach conflict management?
Using a brief narrative example, illustrate how your culture has shaped the way conflict
is managed within your family.
18.
Compare and contrast the different conflict management strategies. Which strategies are
most effective and which are least effective? Why?
19.
List and describe the two communication strategies that foster reconciliation after a
conflict. Which one do you believe is more important and which is less important, and
why? In your opinion, which one is easier to do and which one is harder to do, and why?
20.
Consider the following scenario: Stephanie and Derek have been dating for a couple of
years. Stephanie wants to marry Derek, but he is unsure. Derek’s parents were divorced
when he was young, and both his mother and father have remarried and divorced again.
Derek says he loves Stephanie but that he doesn’t “believe in marriage.” Stephanie isn´t
sure if she is willing to commit to a relationship with Derek if he isn´t willing to
consider marriage. Briefly contrast the ways this conflict might end if the couple uses
each of the following conflict management strategies: avoiding, obliging, direct
fighting, indirect fighting, compromising, and collaborating.
21.
Describe a recent conflict you had with a roommate, friend, or romantic partner that did
not end in a satisfying resolution of the problem. Analyze and describe the way you and
your partner managed the conflict. How could you rewrite the conflict using more
effective and appropriate conflict management strategies to produce a more satisfying
result?
22.
Synthesizing what you have learned in this chapter and others in this text, discuss the
role of ethics in conflict management. Describe verbal/nonverbal behaviors, listening
behaviors, and other communication behaviors you would label as unethical and explain
why these behaviors are unethical and not merely ineffective.
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Answer Key
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