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Strangers On A Treadmill Essay

Decent Essays

Image being asked the infamous question, “how does this dress make me look?” Naturally, one assumes a woman is asking her spouse this question, but Modern Family took a new spin on this. In the episode, Strangers on a Treadmill, the gay couple addressed this idea of body image by not directly asking the question but rather looking at it from different perspectives. In the process of developing the underlying issue of lack of communication, the show created various interpersonal conflicts. What this episode did was demonstrated the ways smaller conflicts can lead to and often times, create larger conflicts between romantic relationships. When interpersonal conflicts arise, how each party handles the situation can determine if the relationship …show more content…

One thing they both could have done, but Mitchell in particularly was to express his thoughts and feelings constructively. Even though he did not want to hurt his feelings, not telling someone can still hurt their feelings, especially if they find out you have those feelings all along. Mitchell could have sat him down and explain why he felt the bike shorts were not something Cam should wear and that he will still support his healthy lifestyle goals. While communicating with Cam, Mitchell should engage in active-empathic listening, which occurs when a listener is genuinely focused and emotionally involved in a particular interaction and when this "involvement is conscious on the part of the listener but is also perceived by the speaker" (Bevan and Sole, 2014, Section 8.3, para. 8).
In conclusion, interpersonal conflicts arise often during times of miscommuniction or the lack of transparency in relationships. In order to maintain healthy relationships, couple should practice more positive relationship maintenance behaviors like creating a safe place to offer advice and practice conflict management to resolve their interpersonal conflicts. It is how each party handles the situation that can determine if the relationship can overcome conflicts and be able to maintain the relationship or if the challenges are too damaging and will hinder the growth of the

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