Post 3: Response to Conflict

After reviewing different concepts of the textbook, one of the most useful concepts I will take away from this course is about conflict resolution. This book gave such great insight into how to identify different levels of conflict, how conflicts are handled differently depending on the relationship, and so much more. One concept discussed in the book that I use every day but never realized it was the different responses to conflict.

Wood discusses four response, the exit, the neglect, the loyalty, and the voice. Each different level demonstrates different levels of conflict resolution, moving from lowest to highest. The exit response describes an instance where someone walks away from conflict. The neglect describes a person who tries to minimize the issue. Loyalty is reflects a person who stays in the relationship and tolerates the other person’s difference. While voice uses talking to create an agreement and resolution between the two parties.

Initially I thought I used mainly voice to solve all my conflicts. However after more thought, there are many times when I use all three depending on my level of care and attachment towards the relationship. When I first meet someone or am talking to someone I’ve never met, many times when differences come up just neglect the issue or exit. It’s not worth my time to try resolve our differences. However if it’s a person much more closer, I put a lot more effort into maintain our friendship and use voice to solve our problems.

What about you?

Jossshhuaa

Post 2: Favorite and Least Favorite

My favorite aspect of the class had to be each of the essays. All three of the essays challenged me to apply the concepts throughout the course in my life. As a result, I’ve found the theories learned in class to be significantly more valuable.  My most favorite essay would have to be the last, relationship development paper. It was fun dissecting my relationship with my girlfriend.  It allowed me to see how each stage would developed and transitioned.

Fortunately, there is nothing that I really disliked about the course. All the assignments, tests, and discussions were fair. The only improvement I would make is to force people to post their portion of the discussions by Thursday night. Making the discussions and reply due on the same day makes it hard to reply. Most people procrastinate.  This hurts those who are trying to be on top of everything and forces us to produce lower quality work because people don’t want to post early. Creating two different due dates would allow better quality discussions and replies.

Jossshhuaa 

Post 1: What I have learned

This class really focused on the fundamentals of human interactions and relations. One of the most memorable and interesting concepts I have learned throughout this course are the different stages of friendship and romantic relationships. Many times I’ve tried to create segmented sections of the development of each relationship, however I could never clearly define in depth as the text did. Being able to recognize and understand how each relationship develops is a valuable skill in human interaction. I have been able to label each of my friendships and see where they fall in the friendship development spectrum. 

Additionally, I have learned valuable tools in increasing my communication between family and friends by implementing better listening skills. The text explains methods such as being mindful, physical receiving messages, and selecting and organizing material. I’ve applied different strategies from the book and have seen significant improvement in my interactions with others. I’ve also tested different forms of non-listening and have found those to create negative reactions.

Have you ever tried to experiment what not to do? I’d like to hear some fun stories with that.

Jossshhuaa