Term | Definition |
Accommodation: | Sacrificing, in whole or in part, your own preferences and points of view. |
Autonomy: | The desire to retain independence. |
Avoidance: | Attempting to evade conflict. |
Change: | The need for novelty and new experiences. |
Coercion: | Psychologically or physically forcing the other person to accept your point of view. |
Collaboration: | Working together to reach consensus. |
Communication Climate: | The way people feel about their interactions with others, either in relationships or in groups. |
Compromise: | Giving up something in order to find an acceptable solution to the problem. |
Conflict: | A condition of disharmony and disagreement that exists when people who depend on one another see their needs, beliefs and values, or goals as incompatible. |
Connection: | The need to be included in a relationship. |
Constructive Responses to Conflict: | Communication characterized by cooperation, shared interests, flexibility, open discussion, and support of differences. |
Destructive Responses to Conflict: | Communication characterized by competition, self-centeredness, hostility and defensiveness. |
Dialectical Tensions: | Ongoing, changing needs that are often opposite or contradictory. |
Expression: | The need to be or have others be open, candid, and confiding. |
High Context: | An interaction style in which people expect others to figure out implicit meanings based on the situation or the relationship between communicators. |
Low Context: | An interaction style in which communicators expect information to be direct and explicit. |
Participation: | The level of communication where we accept others who are different as unique, valuable, and integrated into our lives. |
Passive Aggression: | Indirect expression of hostility, often through the use of humor, guilt or inconsiderate behavior. |
Persuasion: | Attempting to get others to change their point of view. |
Privacy: | The need to be or have others be restrained, circumspect, and distant. |
Resistance: | The level of communication where we judge others who are different and avoid or reject them. |
Respect: | The level of communication where we begin to see value in the ways that others are different. |
Stability: | The need to control our environment through safe and conventional routines. |
Tolerance: | The level of communication where we are willing to acknowledge that differences exist. |