Confrontation between the individual and the group: how to resolve the conflict?

Main causes ↑

A social group is a reflection of a society in which disagreements inevitably arise. The emergence of a contradiction between an individual and a group is the most common phenomenon.

Conflict between an individual and a group is a contradiction that has arisen between an individual and a social group.

This phenomenon is quite multifaceted, since relationships in a particular group are built into a certain system, subject to public and unspoken rules, with the presence of a formal and informal leader, etc. Therefore, the possibility of conflict arising in a group increases several times.

Most often, the basis for the emerging disagreement lies in attempts to change intragroup rules and norms. This process is quite difficult, even if group members understand the need for change. The conflict becomes especially acute if one person tries to change the rules.

Based on the basis of the conflict, it is possible to determine the reasons that prompt a person to violate group norms and rules:

• deliberate violation of rules in order to protect one's own interests and values;
• accidental non-compliance with them, since either the person is new to the group or has not fully mastered the rules existing there;
• impossibility of following established standards for a number of reasons;
• the emergence of a contradiction between group expectations and the expectations of a specific individual;
• disagreements on specific goals, objectives and methods of their implementation;
• conflict due to the desire to take leadership of a specific person in a specific group;
• conflict between management and group;
• the group’s desire to find the culprit (imaginary or real) in the failures that befell the group’s activities.

Do your parents not understand your actions and aspirations? Find out why generational conflict occurs. Read about marital conflicts and ways to resolve them in the article.

What are personality conflicts?

Conflicts can arise within the individual. Thus, a personality conflict is the contradiction of his desires, opinions, goals or emotional states in a certain situation. Contradictions within a person can arise at various levels. Often you have to choose between “should” and “want”.

Many people view conflicts negatively. Moreover, experts from the online magazine psytheater.com argue that conflicts within an individual are just as destructive as disputes in the outside world. Depending on how a person treats his internal contradictions and begins to resolve them, he will become more developed or create a problem that will lower his self-esteem.

Conflicts are normal between desires, needs, morals and social principles. All that remains is to be more productive in the process of eliminating them. You should understand the reasons for their occurrence, be decisive in drawing conclusions, and not be afraid of the consequences.

Do you want to be a person who is believed and trusted? Then there is no need to contradict yourself. The fact is that trust in any individual disappears when there is some discrepancy between his views on life and what he does. For example, if you are outraged by the fact that someone behaves like a child, and then you yourself begin to turn to your loved one’s parents for help when you have a quarrel, then are you not a child yourself? Are you outraged that someone else does the same thing you do? How can you listen to your opinion if you contradict yourself?

There is no need to condemn what is in you. This is the first rule to follow if you want to become a successful self-made person. If you don’t like something about another person, first ask yourself: “Am I doing the same things?” Quite often a person is indignant about what is inherent in himself. But he doesn’t want to admit his shortcomings, but he is happy to see the same flaws in those around him. So see your weaknesses first so you can change them and become better (rather than waste your time judging other people).

If you want to be respected or perceived in a certain way, you must not only demand it, but also present yourself in a way that evokes certain reactions. For example, if you want to be taken seriously, then stop dressing sexy (tight short skirts and transparent blouses). Match your appearance and behavior to the image that you want others to see in you. Be who you want to be in your appearance, in your clothes, in your demeanor, in your words, and in your outlook on the world. Let your appearance match the image you want to be like. Let your actions, words and outlook convey this image. Be a complete person who does not contradict yourself.

Be a successful self-made person. Clearly define the ideal that you want to be like (and depending on your choice, people will treat you in one way or another). Then spend all your energy so that your appearance, character, outlook on life, flaws and advantages correspond to your chosen image, otherwise you may get an unpredictable result when people treat you differently than you would like.

You may be surprised to realize that often men and women are not looking for what they declare. For example, a woman may be looking for a rich man, but end up falling in love with a simple worker. How did this happen? Psychologists would answer that a person often contradicts himself when choosing a loved one for partners, because he does not know himself, his desires and needs, and he simply deceives himself.

Example. He is looking for a decent woman (decent, that is, modest, are often helpless and dependent), she can become one only when she finds a rear in her man (that is, becomes dependent on him). At the same time, he does not want to solve her life problems and provide for her.

He is looking for a self-sufficient woman (who makes her own decisions, knows how to lead, etc.), while he himself does not want to obey his partner.

Who does he need? A self-sufficient and decent woman who will not depend on him and control him. But such a woman should be indifferent to a man, then she will not have any benefit in what he gives/does not give her and what he does in general.

• He is looking for a decent woman, but he himself talks about sex.
• He is looking for an open one, but he himself does not tell her everything.
• He is looking for a kind one, but at the same time he makes sarcastic jokes.
• He is looking for a self-sufficient and giving (economic) woman, but he himself is stingy and greedy.
• He is looking for something positive, but he himself complains about his troubles and the behavior of other people.

In other words, a man is looking for something that he himself does not give to a woman. He is looking for a woman who does not want to be with him (but will go out with other men).

Conclusion. Men often don’t understand that they want to suffer from the women they are looking for. Women often fall in love with those with whom they will later suffer, wanting to change them. And what they are looking for in each other, most often they themselves cannot give to their partners or their actions contradict these manifestations.

Signs and forms of conflict between an individual and a group ↑

Like any conflict, the confrontation between an individual and a group has certain signs, among the most striking are the following:

• harassment and attacks by group members;
• violation of personal space;
• aggressive behavior;
• refusal of communication and interaction;
• assigning responsibility for failures.

The forms in which the conflict between an individual and a group manifest itself are very diverse, including the following:

• the use of sanctions within a specific group;
• absolute cessation of communication between group members and the individual;
• expressing harsh criticism;
• significant restriction of communication;
• euphoria shown on the part of the conflicting party.

Resolution methods ↑

Before we begin to consider ways to resolve conflicts between an individual and a group, it is important to study the characteristic features of this confrontation:

1. The structure of the emerging contradiction . It, as in other types of conflicts, consists of subjects, basis and images. The subjects of interaction in this case are the individual and the group. The basis is a clash of motives (personal and group). Images of conflict – individual and group views and assessments.
2. The reasons that prompted the conflict . Without their understanding, constructive resolution of contradictions is impossible.
3. Forms of manifestation of conflict . Methods for resolving a disagreement that have arisen are based on how group members express their dissatisfaction with the behavior of the person involved in the conflict. And also on how the individual himself acts.

There is a certain scheme for how to resolve conflict between an individual and a group. It consists of management stages and management actions corresponding to each stage:

1. Forecasting conflict . If you approach the implementation of all actions correctly, then even at this stage you can resolve the conflict by simply not allowing it to happen. This requires studying the psychological and individual characteristics of group members, individual work with formal and informal leaders, collecting, taking into account and analyzing group opinions and their values. It is important to understand the harbingers of an emerging conflict and its first symptoms. Examples of such rudiments can be: critical statements addressed to an individual who has decided to oppose the group, restriction of communication with this individual.
2. If a conflict can be predicted, then it can be prevented . To do this, it is worth carefully analyzing the causes of the conflict and taking certain measures. They can be both pedagogical (explanation, conversation, reminder of the rules of behavior within a social group) and administrative (transfer of conflict participants to different units, fines, etc.).
3. If a conflict does occur, then it needs to be properly regulated . To do this, it is first important that all participants recognize its reality. After this, work is carried out with both subjects of conflict interaction to find possible ways out of it.
4. The final stage is the resolution of the contradictions that have arisen . There are two ways here: either the individual who has entered into a conflict admits his mistakes and corrects them, or he leaves the group.

Consequences ↑

The consequences of the conflict directly depend on how correctly it was resolved. This is also the function of the conflict that has arisen between an individual and a group.

Don't see eye to eye with your opponent? Read more about conflicts of interest and their prevention. The classification of conflicts in psychology is presented in our article.

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The positive outcome of the confrontation or functional consequences are:

• obtaining a mutually beneficial result that will enable all group members to feel that they belong to it and understand their role in making a constructive decision;
• elimination of hostility, injustice, discrimination within the group;
• spirit of cooperation;
• team building.

Dysfunctional consequences arise if the conflict was unmanageable or management was ineffective.

They are expressed in the fact that in the team there is:

• feeling of dissatisfaction, decreased productivity;
• low degree of cooperation;
• unmotivated devotion to one’s own group, its exclusion from other social groups;
• cessation of interaction between the subjects of the conflict;
• increased hostility;
• exaggeration of a nominal victory by either an individual or a group.

Conflicts between the group and the individual are inevitable. However, understanding their features and ways to resolve them will ultimately lead to positive, functional consequences of this confrontation.

Patterns of personality behavior in conflict

Depending on the motives and attitudes of the individual, the following models of behavior in conflict are distinguished:

• Constructive – when an individual directs all his efforts to eliminate and resolve the conflict. How this will happen is another question. But the main thing is the goal, where the person wants to eliminate the conflict and improve relationships with people.
• Destructive – when an individual does not solve, but aggravates the problem. He manipulates, insults, humiliates, causes additional pain and commits actions that further escalate the situation.
• Conformist - when an individual does not try to argue, but takes the opponent’s side, which eliminates the conflict. In such a situation, an individual quickly puts an end to a dispute with another person if he really doesn’t care how it ends, who wins and whose side will be occupied.

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