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Interpersonal Conflict Paper

Decent Essays

1) Interpersonal conflict can be defined as “the interaction of interdependent people who perceive incompatible goals and interference from each other in achieving those goals”. Reese and her mother have an interdependent relationship, meaning that the people involved in conflict rely on or need each other in some way and have an actual relationship with each other. They are also interacting, which means that conflicts are created and sustained through verbal and nonverbal communication. Even though Reese and her mother are not as close as other members of the family, they still would have to communicate in some way to realize that Reese’s goal to travel over two hours away for college is farther than her mother is comfortable with. These incompatible goals of distance become the root cause of their interpersonal conflict.
2) This scenario between Reese and her mother would be considered content conflict within interpersonal conflict. Content conflict is also considered substantive conflict and is defined as a conflict that revolves around a specific issue. This disagreement falls within the scope of content conflict as the two are arguing about the specific issue of exactly how far away Reese should be allowed to travel for school.
3) Power, or the ability to control the behavior of another, plays a large role in this situation as Reese’s mother probably is feeling some sort of entitlement to make this decision for her daughter. At this point in life, Reese is either

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