Week 2, Post 3

In chapter 2, I learned six steps to resolve conflict. I feel that the preparation stage is most important. I feel this way because thinking about how you are going to confront someone, or what words you are going to use, can determine how positive or negative the outcome will be. Ways that you can prepare yourself when confronting someone is to self-talk. Self-talk can be described as talking out our feelings. I tend to self-talk out loud alone.

Another way to prepare is to have an imagined interaction. This is something that I do all the time. For example, when I planned to quit my job. I was a nanny, and I knew that the mother would try to make me stay with them. To prepare myself, I role-played in my mind how I would start of the conversation. After, I would think of all the things that she would say to change my mind. Then, I would try to answer the questions the best I could. When it was time for me to confront her, I felt confident. Luckily, all the questions she asked me, and all the reasons she gave me to stay, I had an answer. Using imagined preparation really helped me in this situation.

Week 2, Post 1

I feel that conflict in humans is an inborn trait. I believe that one of the reasons why conflict arises is because our basic needs aren’t being met, or may be threatened. For example, a landlord informed the tenant that he is raising rent by $100 each month. However, the tenant knows that she cannot afford rent, and is now worried that she might not have a place to live. Having a place to live is one of the basic needs to survival, and this may cause conflict between the landlord and tenant. Therefore, I feel conflict is a natural instinct and we need certain traits to help us survive and succeed.

Also, I feel that conflict is inevitable because we all come from different backgrounds and our understanding or perspective of one another may be different than someone else’s belief. Therefore, being able to communicate our feelings and thoughts may be difficult when communicating with someone else who may not have the same background or experiences as you. 

Introduction

Hello everyone!

My name is Arlen Legomski, but is pronounced as Arlene (so don’t let the missing “e” fool you J). This is my senior year, and I will be graduating in May! I will be receiving a Bachelor degree in psychology with a minor in Communication. Some of my hobbies are running, snowboarding and volunteering at the Bill Wilson Center Crisis Hotline. I find communication interesting because there are so many ways that people can interpret what you are saying. Therefore, being able to communicate effectively is crucial, and having these skills will help you with your job, school, or personal life.

One of my goals for this class is to understand what “conflict” is and the different kinds of conflict. Also, I would like to learn different perspectives on how others interpret conflict. Most importantly, I want to learn ways to defuse conflict in a positive way or identify conflict before it progresses.