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Enhancing Constructive Political Conflict Using Positive Imagined Interactions| A Qualitative Test of the Seventh Theorem of Conflict Linkage Theory

<p> This narrative inquiry sought to determine whether the strategic use of positive imagined interactions (IIs), or the conversations one has in their mind, could enhance cross-cutting political conflict while also testing the seventh theorem of II conflict linkage theory which states, &ldquo;In order to enhance constructive conflict, individuals need to imagine positive interactions and outcomes&rdquo; (Honeycutt, 2003a, p. 6). Undergraduate student participants were assigned to one of three conditions (positive II, negative II, or control) and engaged in a three-phase procedure. Phase one, pre-interaction, prompted the participants to engage in an II, and then reflect on their IIs by answering open-ended questions. During phase two, interaction, participants engaged in an actual, cross-cutting conversation about the political topic of their choice with a trained confederate. During the final stage, post-interaction, participants completed a second questionnaire to assess the constructiveness or destructiveness of their interaction. A thematic analysis revealed that 40 out of 45 total participants, regardless of their pre-assigned condition, engaged in a positive, constructive conflict with their conversation partner. The results also indicate that positive IIs aid in perspective-taking while negative IIs satisfy individuals by allowing them to mentally defend their beliefs. While the results neither confirm nor disprove Theorem 7 of II conflict linkage theory, they do support Theorem 3 which explains that negative intrusive IIs often occur when a person purposely attempts to have a positive II. </p><p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:10980987
Date12 April 2019
CreatorsCovington, Emily N.
PublisherUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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