Journal 7: Escalation

The conflicts that I am part of are often group conflicts. Contributing factors then can include both psychological and group changes. Image threats are the most common, when members of our friend group are feeling less appreciated, or if a friend feels less smart, funny, etc, in comparison to the other friends in the group. Escalation is also encouraged by personality and background differences between friends, for example one from a city with highly educated family members and one from a farm whose parents have blue collar jobs. These friends come to relationships (and conflicts) with very different points of view that are often difficult to resolve, and encourage conflict spirals. I am generally not a contributor to escalation, I am usually the one mediating the conflict between friends or acting as a neutral party. I do not like conflict, but my friends often engage in debates for fun that can end up as personal attacks. They enjoy the debates but it is always difficult for me to tell when they are academic dialogues and when they are possibly detrimental to friendships. Conflict is not fun for me, but I often have to deal with it as something recreational for my friends.