ABSTRACT
SIMMEL'S STATEMENT that close ties and great involvement make for much more intense conflict, when conflict occurs at all, is a corollary of the results described in the preceding discussion. The ambivalence generally present in close relationships was said to stem from the suppression of hostile feelings (which in turn were traced to the frequent occasions for conflict inherent in such relationships), the acting out of which is being avoided by the participants for fear of the disruptive effects of such conflicts. If the "love object" is at the same time a "hate object," it is understandable that conflict would mobilize the entire affect of the personality and that the relatio~ship might be disrupted through the resultant intense conflict; hence there is a tendency to suppression.
