aling with the issues leading to interpersonal conflict situation, display an unwillingness to deal effectively with interpersonal conflict, regardless of whether they have the ability to deal effectively with such situation. By opting for conflict avoidance behavior, such individuals subject themselves to the potential for the undesirable outcomes described above.
It is proposed that a research study be conducted to establish the relationship between the dominant/submissive character of an individual's personality and the probability than an individual will engage in conflict avoidance behavior in an interpersonal conflict situation. The proposed study will be valuable because it will provide additional evidence of the link between personality characteristics and a propensity for conflict avoidance behavior. This knowledge, in turn, will enable therapists to better design strategies to help individuals to both become more assertive in interpersonal relations and to reduce their reliance on conflict avoidance behavior in situations of interpersonal conflict.
Dealing effectively with situations involving interpersonal conflict requires the development and use of interpersonal communication skills. Interpersonal communication is defined as the process linking discontinuous living entities with one another (Kaplan & Sadock, 1985). Communication is made possible by the combined effects of perception, evaluation, and expression.
The social process of interpersonal communication involves three sets of determinantsùsensory, environmental, and psychological. The proposed study will be concerned with the latter two sets of determinants. Environmental determinants are the people and the social systems with which an individual is associated, while psychological determinants are the ways in which an individual's experiences affects her or his knowledge, skills, and methods of adaptation (Kaplan & Sadock, 1985).
A perso...