TY - JOUR
T1 - College students' expectations of conflict intensity
T2 - A self-fulfilling prophecy
AU - DiPaola, Benjamin M.
AU - Roloff, Michael Elwood
AU - Peters, Kristopher M.
PY - 2010/2/1
Y1 - 2010/2/1
N2 - Before becoming involved in an argument, actors often hold expectations regarding the intensity of the forthcoming conflict. This article examines how the interaction of initiator role and expecting a conflict to be intense is related to accounts of conflict processes and conflict aftermath. Undergraduate students' reports of a recent intense conflict they had initiated or another person had initiated revealed that expectations for conflict intensity were positively associated with the extent to which the conflicts reportedly were emotionally upsetting, involved personal attacks, and subsequently interfered with everyday life. These relationships were of greater magnitude when conflicts were self-initiated than other-initiated.
AB - Before becoming involved in an argument, actors often hold expectations regarding the intensity of the forthcoming conflict. This article examines how the interaction of initiator role and expecting a conflict to be intense is related to accounts of conflict processes and conflict aftermath. Undergraduate students' reports of a recent intense conflict they had initiated or another person had initiated revealed that expectations for conflict intensity were positively associated with the extent to which the conflicts reportedly were emotionally upsetting, involved personal attacks, and subsequently interfered with everyday life. These relationships were of greater magnitude when conflicts were self-initiated than other-initiated.
KW - Conflict intensity
KW - Confrontation
KW - Expectations of conflict
KW - Self-fulfilling prophecies
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79957925059&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=79957925059&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01463370903532245
DO - 10.1080/01463370903532245
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:79957925059
SN - 0146-3373
VL - 58
SP - 59
EP - 76
JO - Communication Quarterly
JF - Communication Quarterly
IS - 1
ER -