Taking Conflict Personally

Taking conflict personally (TCP) is conceptualized as a negative emotional
personalization of conflict episodes. Here, individuals' TCP levels
were examined in relationship to both their own conflict management
styles and their perceptions of supervisors' conflict management styles.
Results indicate that one's TCP levels are associated with one's own
preferred conflict management style, with supervisor's perceived conflict
style, and with satisfaction with supervisor.

Taking conflict personally (TCP) has been defined as a negative emotional reaction to participating in a conflict. This paper locates the notions of affective climate in general, and TCP in particular, within a Lewinian frame. The theoretical connections among field theory, defensiveness, attributions, and TCP are described. Earlier work has generated a multidimensional scale for measurement of TCP, and has shown the subscales’ associations with argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, communication apprehension, own conflict style, superior's conflict style, arguing behaviors, communication competence, and organizational climate. The present investigation responds to some psychometric and conceptual difficulties with the original version of the TCP scales by revising the measurement instrument. This paper proposes items for the measurement of six TCP subscales: direct personalization, persecution feelings, stress reaction, positive relational effects, negative relational effects, and like/dislike valence. The revised scales replicate the leading results from the original validating study, and extend our understanding of TCP's relationship to a conflict's perceived climate.

This study examines thoughts and feelings about conflict. A person may use imagined
interactions (IIs) to work through a conflict situation. One factor that may affect the nature
of IIs about conflict is the tendency among some individuals to take conflict personally.
Taking conflict personally (TCP) is the feeling that conflict is a negative life event
that is aimed at the self (Hample & Dallinger, 1995). This study examines the relationship
between TCP and IIs about conflict. Results indicate that trait TCP is correlated
with rumination, that a variety of significant relationships appear between trait TCP
and II characteristics, and that trait TCP predicts state TCP immediately after a
conflict-oriented II.

Taking conflict personally (TCP) has been defined as a negative emotional reaction to participating in a conflict. This paper locates the notions of affective climate in general, and TCP in particular, within a Lewinian frame. The theoretical connections among field theory, defensiveness, attributions, and TCP are described. Earlier work has generated a multidimensional scale for measurement of TCP, and has shown the subscales’ associations with argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, communication apprehension, own conflict style, superior's conflict style, arguing behaviors, communication competence, and organizational climate. The present investigation responds to some psychometric and conceptual difficulties with the original version of the TCP scales by revising the measurement instrument. This paper proposes items for the measurement of six TCP subscales: direct personalization, persecution feelings, stress reaction, positive relational effects, negative relational effe...

Do people make different assessments of fallacies in conversation based on fallacy type,
topic type, and trait measures of conflict personalization? College students (n¼322)
completed the Taking Conflict Personally battery (Hample & Dallinger, 1995) and
evaluated fallacies’ appropriateness, effectiveness, soundness, and playfulness. Six
fallacies were used: ad hominem, appeal to pity, threat, undistributed middle term,
affirming the consequent, and denying the antecedent. Topics were personal or public.
Fallacy type had no significant effects on assessment of the fallacy. Topic type (personal
v. public) had significant effects on assessments, and personalization of conflict scores
were associated with higher playfulness ratings.