Attributions and communication in roommate conflicts

TLDR

Communicative decisions in conflict are largely driven by social attributions of intent, causality, and stability, and biases along these dimensions promote noncooperative conflict strategies. The paper develops a theoretical approach to interpersonal conflict communication that emphasizes attributional processes. The authors examined this perspective in a field study of college dormitory roommates, using open‑ended conflict descriptions to create a typology of resolution strategies—passive‑indirect, distributive, and integrative—that differ in information exchange and goal orientation. Reported conflict strategies, attribution patterns, and outcomes were positively associated as predicted.

Abstract

Abstract This paper develops a theoretical approach to communication in interpersonal conflict which emphasizes the role of attributional processes. According to this view, communicative decisions in conflict are largely a function of social attributions about the intent, causality, and stability of behaviors in conflict. Factors which bias attributions along these dimensions encourage noncooperative conflict stategies. Predictions from this perspective were examined in a field study of college dormitory roommates. Open‐ended descriptions of conflicts experienced by roommates were used to formulate a typology of conflict resolution strategies. The main categories in this typology ("passive‐indirect," "distributive," and "integrative") vary in the extent to which they promote information exchange and are oriented toward individual versus mutual goals. Associations between the conflict strategies reported by subjects, their attributions for conflicts, and conflict outcomes were in the expected direction.