Identify examples of self-concept or perception biases.
Describe emotional and attitudinal shifts in the conflict.
Analyze stress factors and their effect on decisions.
Propose at least two strategies for improving perceptions, managing emotions, and reducing stress
Conflict is rarely a purely rational process; it involves significant shifts in emotions and attitudes that can escalate or de-escalate the situation.
| Aspect | Shift/Change | Effect on Conflict |
|---|---|---|
| Emotional Shift | From Hurt/Fear to Anger/Resentment: An initial feeling of hurt (from a perceived slight or unmet need) is often converted into anger. This shift fuels the desire for aggressive, defensive, or retaliatory behavior. | Escalation. Anger narrows focus, promotes hostility, and drives the conflict from "solving a problem" to "winning at all costs." |
| Attitudinal Shift (Cognitive Dissonance) | Dichotomous Thinking (Us vs. Them): The opposing party's attitude shifts from being viewed as an individual with an opposing idea to being viewed as an "out-group" or an "enemy." This supports the Cognitive Dissonance need to justify one's own position. | Entrenchment and Dehumanization. The parties become rigid, refusing to see the other's perspective or concede any points, preventing compromise. |
| Emotional Energy | Loss of Positive Emotional Energy (Trust/Empathy): Feelings of trust, goodwill, and mutual respect decline rapidly and are replaced by suspicion and distrust. | Damaged Relationships. Without trust, future cooperative interactions become nearly impossible, often leading to conflict avoidance or passive-aggressive behavior. |
Stress is a significant factor that fundamentally alters decision-making processes by affecting cognitive resources.2
Cognitive Resource Depletion (Chronic Stress): Prolonged exposure to cortisol and adrenaline (stress hormones) can impair the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for rational thought, working memory, and planning.3
Effect on Decisions:
Shift to Habitual/Impulsive Choice: The stressed brain conserves energy by favoring fast, intuitive (System 1) decisions over slow, logical, and deliberate (System 2) ones. This leads to impulsivity or resorting to old, familiar (but potentially ineffective) habits rather than adapting to the current situation.
Increased Risk Aversion or Risk-Seeking: Stress can lead individuals to either become overly cautious and avoid any risk (paralysis by analysis) or, conversely, become recklessly risk-seeking in an attempt to gain a quick, rewarding solution to escape the stressor.
Reduced Information Processing: Stress causes tunnel vision, limiting the ability to gather all relevant information, weigh complex trade-offs, or consider long-term consequences, often resulting in sub-optimal, short-sighted decisions.
Self-concept and perception biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment about the self or others. They often serve to protect one's self-esteem or simplify complex information.1
| Bias | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Self-Serving Bias | Attributing successes to internal factors (talent, effort) and failures to external factors (luck, unfair treatment). | A student attributes a good grade to their intelligence but a poor grade to the teacher's unfair test questions. |
| Self-Effacement Bias | Attributing successes to external factors (luck, help from others) and failures to internal factors (lack of ability). (More common in collectivist cultures). | An employee credits a major project success solely to "great team luck" but attributes a minor mistake to their own incompetence. |
| Fundamental Attribution Error | Attributing other people's behavior to their internal characteristics (personality, disposition) while underestimating the influence of external factors (situation, environment). | If a coworker misses a deadline, you assume they are lazy, rather than considering they might be overloaded or dealing with a crisis. |
| Confirmation Bias | Seeking out, interpreting, and recalling information in a way that confirms one's pre-existing beliefs or hypotheses. | A manager who believes an employee is poor performer will only notice and remember instances of poor performance, ignoring successes. |
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