Exam 6: Relational and Conflict Communication

You are put into a group in Communication class to work on a project. Toward the end of your group experience, you experience conflict with another group member on the title of the group presentation. Briefly name and describe each conflict management style and identify which one you think is the best approach for you to take to resolve this conflict. Make sure to thoroughly explain your choice.

___________is deliberate miscommunication meant to hide expressions of anger, distrust, or disagreement without acknowledging the underlying feelings at the root of the problem.

What motivates people to reduce uncertainty when they meet someone new? Give examples.

Affiliations tend to be the product of a satisfaction-seeking or defensive alliance. This means they __________.

You've learned that conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties, who perceive incompatible goals, scarce rewards, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals. Take each of the elements in this definition-expressed struggle, interdependent parties, incompatible goals, scarce rewards, and interference-and use them to describe and explain a particularly difficult conflict you may have had with a friend.

You want to buy Teflon-coated pans for your new kitchen, convinced of their convenience, but your partner insists that the coating is bad for your health, having recently read a study in a respected science magazine. To your surprise, this disagreement grows into a full-on argument. You are experiencing ___________ conflict.

Relational Dialectics Theory argues that interpersonal communication is the mechanism people use to manage the inevitable and necessary tensions that exist in all relationships. It further argues that those tensions, or dialectics, are both internal to the relationship and external, that is, in interaction with others outside it. List and describe the three primary internal dialectics faced by most relationships and do the same for the external version of each. Give examples.

The assumption that relational progress is often systematic and predictable is central to __________ theory.

The rape myth is a pernicious holdover from an earlier era of inequality between men and women. What is it and what are some of its assumptions?

The Investment Model of Commitment argues that people's persistence in a relationship (commitment) is influenced by a number of independent factors, among them ___________, the degree of positive versus negative affect experienced in a relationship.

Among Social Penetration Theory's assumptions are the ideas that relationships progress from nonintimate to intimate, their progress is generally systematic and predictable, relational development includes depenetration and dissolution, and ________.

As your friendship with your roommate moves from impersonal to more personal communication, you both begin to reveal things about yourself that are more private. As you each do this, the other responds similarly. This is _______.

Among the many prosocial behaviors that promote relational closeness, trust, and liking is _______________, performing routine jobs and chores that are part of the relationship.

In the early stages of any relationship, conversations are scripted and superficial. But this small talk is actually big talk because ____________; that is, it tells others that you are socially competent and aware, worthy of continued interaction.

The four stages of relational development predicted by Social Penetration Theory are_________.

Communication scholars Judith Martin and Thomas Nakayama offered seven suggestions for dealing with conflict. Identify the four you think most valuable and explain why you make those choices. Give examples.

One way to reduce uncertainty about other people is to stand back and observe them and their behaviors in an environment they may find comfortable. This is the ___________uncertainty reduction strategy.

You want to get to know the new student in your bio class, so you make sure you sit next to her and strike up a conversation, asking some simple, get-to-know-you questions. You are engaging in ________information seeking.

Another provision of relationships, ____________, is embodied in the phrase, "People who need people are the luckiest people in the world."

The compromising conflict style includes_____________ concern for self-interest, and __________ concern for the interest of others: