Psychology Paper
Student’s Name
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Psychology Paper
My Current Knowledge about the Course and Expectations from the Course
Based on the course of psychology, there are some basic concepts that I have. For instance, a psychological course entails more information about a better understanding of other people and the importance of understanding the diversities among different people that one meets in his or her daily life. In one’s life, there are high chances that he or she interacts with many people from racially, linguistically, culturally, and religiously diverse families. Psychological knowledge plays a fundamental role in ensuring that such people interact harmoniously (Halonen & Dunn, 2018). Also, based on the course content, I know that personal understanding is better. The course additionally highlights the personal motivators, the sort of personality I have, and the way such personalities contribute to the way I think and think. However, there is an immense content on the issue of conflict that is elaborately shared in the course that I look forward to learning about (Hocker & Wilmot, 2018). The reason behind this anticipated knowledge is that it will play a critical role both in my life and professional life. It is through the knowledge about a conflict that I will live a harmonious life in the environment that is occupied by the diversified population. Additionally, I will work and cooperate with coworkers in the workplace regardless of our differences.
The Authors’ Implication by Saying that “Conflict Presents Danger and Opportunity”
When the authors argued that conflict has dangers and opportunities attributed to it, they meant that there are some disadvantages and advantages of conflict. The term conflict refers to the disagreement between two or more people (Huan & Yazdanifard, 2012). For instance, in an organization, an employee may be comfortable with the temperature of the common office set at 60 degrees Celsius while his or her colleague may want it to be set at 70 degrees Celsius. These two can agree and let it be set at 65 degrees Celsius. It becomes a conflict if no one of them is willing to compromise his stand. Following this kind of conflict, it will present dangers if one employee is favored and the other suffers from unfavorable temperatures. Also, based on the same example, the business is adversely affected if the unflavored employee gets ill since it will incur the cost of recruiting new employees, among other associated disadvantages. I concur with the authors that conflict presents opportunities. For instance, conflicts are often experienced as a result of a certain weakness in the working place (Hocker & Wilmot, 2018). Therefore, when they occur, the management gets an opportunity to identify the weakness of the organization, and through that, they can take the necessary reaction to mitigate or eradicate the weakness.
Why Is It Difficult To Assess Power?
According to various studies that have been conducted on the issue of power, it was found that the term power is broad, and the assessment of exercising power is a flawed quest. Power cuts across the ability of an individual to keep him or herself alive to the governmental ruling. Generally, all types of power ought to be influential. Therefore, if one influences the other, then he or she is said to have power over them. Additionally, if one person has special skills, he or she is said to have the power to dictate the level of price to be offered for the particular skills to be offered. In an organization, management has power over the employees since it influences their operations. Following the diversity of the term power, it brings a challenge in its assessment.
How Different Emotions dictate conflict Styles
There are different types of emotions that have been found to dictate different types of conflict. Some of the emotions include anger, fear, sadness, joy, surprise, disgust, and trust, among others. These different emotions affect different conflicts in different ways (Lindner, 2016). For instance, disgust, sadness, and anger have the same effects on conflict. In the workplace, when one or a team of employees has some aspects of these emotions, then there will be less cooperation, and there will be no teamwork among them. Therefore, these three emotions adversely affect the workplace conflict in that way, and it is a threat to the organization. When in a family setting, there is a disagreement between the parents or parent-child conflict, it can be solved through one of the involved parties having an emotion of joy, or trust to the other. Therefore, different emotions dictate different conflict styles in different ways.
The Utilization of Various Models and Diagrams in Conflict Management
One of the vivid diagrams that I find fundamental to use is the conflict triangle. The conflict does not involve only two people. Different parties are involved once conflict occurs. The triangle involves A, B, C parts (attitude, behavior, and context). This triangle is critical in managing the conflict once it occurs (Al-Bayati, 2018). The first step based on the triangle is to realize the attitude of the involved parties towards the conflict. After knowing the attitude, then establish the effect of the attitude to their behavior and finally is the context of the conflict. These are the critical parts of the conflict, and upon their establishment, then it will be easy to manage the resolve the conflict. For instance, I have been into a conflict with my lover named Christian, once I tell my friends about the condition, they take the negative things to Christian, and this triggers the intensity of our conflict. The implication is that my friends have a negative attitude towards the relationship and a positive attitude towards the conflict, and for me to resolve this issue, I had to cut off the stories of my relationship conflict with my friends.
Illustration of conflict triangle utilization
The Application of Seven Elements of Principled Negotiation in My Profession
Seven elements characterize principled negotiation. These elements include knowing the common interests, assessing different opinions, deciding on the best alternative, legitimacy, and reasonableness, active listening and communication, engaging in principled negotiation, and commitments to negotiate (Hak & Sanders, 2018, April). These are some of the aspects that I find more critical in my life and professional life. For instance, effective listening will help me in my workplace to listen to my leaders and coworkers, especially when there is communication. Knowing that we have a common interest will help me relax my interest to ensure that we arrive at a win-win situation. Generally, having aspects of principled negotiation, I find it easy to accommodate other people in my life.
The Problem with the Phrase Forgive and Forget
Although it has been said that effective forgiveness is accompanied by forgetting the wrong thing done to us, there is a substantial problem in forgiving and forgetting (Hocker & Wilmot, 2018). The problem is that we fail to forgive those wrong us since it is a projection of failing to forgive ourselves. When other people hurt us, we get angrier to ourselves compared to other people due to the feeling of shame or being an idiot. For this reason, it becomes a challenge to forgive and forget.
Following the content of the course, my anticipated, and the expected knowledge of conflict has been fully gotten. The various parts of conflict have been elaborated for better understanding. What I can add on top of that is the explicit effects of conflict on the youths in the contemporary world. Many youths are committing suicides due to minor conflicts, and the cases are alarmingly increasing, and therefore it calls for an effective corrective tool on the same since guidance and counseling are becoming ineffective.
References
Al-Bayati, M. A. A. H. (2018). The Theory of the Triangle of Conflict and the Geo-Strategic Justification for the Turkish Military Incursion in SINJAR and QANDIL to Pursue the PKK. Journal of Political Science and Leadership Research, 4(3), 82-92.
Hak, F. R., & Sanders, K. (2018, April). Principled negotiation: an evidence-based perspective. In Evidence-based HRM: a Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Halonen, J. S., & Dunn, D. S. (2018). Embedding career issues in advanced psychology major courses. The teaching of Psychology, 45(1), 41-49.
Hocker, J. L. & Wilmot, W. (2018). Interpersonal conflict. (10th ed.). Columbus, OH McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-352394-1
Huan, L. J., & Yazdanifard, R. (2012). The difference in conflict management styles and conflict resolution in the workplace. Business & Entrepreneurship Journal, 1(1), 141-155.
Lindner, E. G. (2016). Emotion and conflict: Why it is important to understand how emotions affect conflict and how conflict affects emotions. The handbook of conflict resolution, 2, 268-293.