Module

TYPES OF CONFLICT ▪

The core conflicts which place a burden on our adjustive abilities center around avoiding or facing
reality, dependence vs self-direction, integrity vs self-advantage, fear vs positive action, love vs hate,
desires vs restraints and conflicts concerning values.Conflicts have been classified as four types
,described as follows:- Approach-approach conflict- Avoidance-avoidance conflict- Approach-
avoidance conflict- Multiple approach-avoidance conflict

APPROACH-APPROACH CONFLICT

▪ As the name implies an approach-approach conflict is a conflict between two positive goals—goals
that are equally attractive at the same time. For instance, a physiological conflict arises when a
person is hungry and sleepy at the same time.

▪ Such conflicts are usually resolved either by satisfying first one goal and then the other-for example,
eating and then going to bed if a person is both hungry and sleepy or by choosing one of the goals
and giving up the other. Compared with other conflict situations, approach conflicts are usually easy
to resolve and generate little emotional behaviour.

AVOIDANCE AVOIDANCE CONFLICT

▪ Avoidance-avoidance conflict with two negative goals leads to vacillation of behaviour and thought.
▪ People are inconsistent in what they do and think.They do first one thing and then another.
Vacillation occurs because the strength of a goal increases as the person nears it. As one of the
negative goal is approached, the person finds it repellent and withdraws from it. But when this is
one, the person comes closer to the other negative goal and finds it unbearably obnoxious. So, the
individual goes back and forth when caught in avoidance– avoidance conflict e.g. a student must
spend the next two days studying for an examination or face the possibility of failure. ▪

▪ Many intense emotions are generated by avoidance– avoidance conflicts. If the two negative goals
are fear producing and threatening, a person caught between them will experience fear. The person
may be angry and resentful as he is trapped in a situation where the goals are negative

. APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT

▪ Approach-avoidance conflict leads to frustration as in this type of conflict a person is both attracted
and repelled by the same goal object. Because of the positive valence of the goal, the person
approaches it,but as it is approached, the negative valence becomes stronger. Even after the goal is
reached, an individual may feel uneasy because of the negative valence attached to it.

An approach-avoidance conflict occurs when a person is both attracted to and repelled by the same
goal or object. This kind of conflict can lead to frustration because the person experiences mixed
feelings about the goal.

Key Points:

1. Attraction: The person is initially drawn to the goal because of its positive aspects (e.g., a
desirable outcome or reward).

2. Repulsion: As the person gets closer to the goal, negative aspects (e.g., risks, consequences,
or responsibilities) become more prominent, making them feel hesitant or reluctant.
 3. Frustration: The person may feel conflicted because they are pulled in two directions—
toward the goal due to its positive aspects, but also away from it because of its negative
aspects. Even after reaching the goal, they may still feel uneasy due to the negative feelings
associated with it.

Example:

• Imagine someone is offered a promotion at work. The promotion offers more money and
status (positive attraction), but it also comes with more stress, longer hours, and greater
responsibilities (negative repulsion). As they get closer to accepting the promotion, they
might feel torn because of these conflicting feelings, leading to frustration.

In short, an approach-avoidance conflict makes decision-making difficult because the person is

emotionally pulled in opposite directions by the same goal.

MULTIPLE APPROACH-AVOIDANCE CONFLICT

▪ Multiple approach-avoidance conflicts lead to emotional reactions. Emotional reactions are

generated by approach-avoidance conflicts in which internal obstacles play a part which lead to
behavioral problems. Suppose a women is engaged to be married; suppose, further, that the goal of
marriage has a positive valence for her because of the stability and security it will provide and
because she loves the man she will be marrying.Suppose,on the other hand,that marriage is
repellent to her because it will mean giving up an attractive offer of a job in another city. With
respect to her career, the women is attracted to the new job but also repelled by the problems it will
create for her marriage

FRUSTRATION
 Frustration is a type of emotional reaction to stress. It's common to have this feeling when
you encounter daily stressors at home, at school, at work, and in relationships. For example,
you might get frustrated when your partner forgets to take care of an important errand, or
you might become frustrated with yourself for how you responded to your partner's mistake.

 Frustration can affect a person in a variety of ways, including psychologically and physically.

Signs of Frustration

❑ Anger or losing your temper

❑ Avoiding the people you are frustrated with

❑ Experiencing changes in your eating habits

❑ Feeling annoyed

❑ Feeling anxious or on edge

❑ Getting overwhelmed and giving up on tasks

❑ Having trouble sleeping or experiencing other changes in your sleeping patterns

❑ Irritability
Causes of Frustration

 Frustration tends to happen when your goals or expectations don't pan out. You might be
engaging in an action or effort that doesn't work as expected or produce the results that you
wanted.

Common causes of frustrations include:

❑ Daily hassles

❑ Finances

❑ Interpersonal conflicts

❑ Relationships

❑ Stressful current world events

❑ Work-related problems

Sources of Frustration
 Environmental
 Environmental obstacles can frustrate the satisfaction of motives by making it difficult or
impossible for a person to attain a goal.

 An obstacle may be physical- such as untimely rain, disruption in electric supply, auto strike,
famine, earthquake, war, floods, etc., or it may be people such as parents or society who
obstruct the fulfillment of wants. For example, Inter-caste marriage, change of religion, etc.
Even the social norms, codes of conduct may cause frustration.

 Personal inadequacies:

 Unattainable goals or too high goals which are beyond the ability level of a person can be
important sources of frustration.

 These are learned goals. For instance, a student with average level of intelligence aspires to
score 90% of marks in the examination will definitely face frustration. A physically
handicapped person cannot aspire to compete against a normal person in running race.

 Thus, people are often frustrated because they aspire for goals which are not attainable by
them, or the goals are beyond their abilities

 Conflict produced frustration:

 A major source of frustration is found in motivational conflict, in which the expression of one
motive interferes with the expression of other motives. Some common conflicts are between
independence and affiliation need, or career aspiration and economic realities.

 For example, a person is motivated to be independent but at the same time he cannot
neglect his affiliation motive. A student may have high aspiration to pursue higher education,
but too much expenditure comes in between
Reactions to Frustrations
. Attack or direct approach:

 In this approach the individual will try to overcome obstacles to reach the goal. If necessary he
may develop new and necessary skills, put more effort or change the mode of attack or
approach. In case of failure he may change the goal to one that is available.

 2. Reduce the level of goal:

 When a person fails to attain his goal even after repeated attempts, he may realize his inabilities
and limitations and try to reduce his level of goal to avoid further disappointment. For example,
a sportsman may reduce his level of goal after realizing that he cannot attain higher level goal. A
student, who fails to achieve high percentage of marks, may reduce his goal to an attainable level
and avoid frustration.

 3. Compromise:

 In some cases the individual does not want to accept the humiliation due to failure, at the same
time he is unable to face the situation also. So finally he will resort to compromise to save his
self-respect.

 Aggressiveness:

 Many people may react to the situation in an aggressive way. Aggressive reaction is very
common when some external obstacles like other people or object is the cause of frustration. He
may attempt to cause damage to these sources.

 5. Withdrawal:

 When all the measures said above become ineffective, the individual develops feelings of
helplessness, inadequacy and inferiority. These negative feelings make him to withdraw from the
situation in order to avoid further damage.