ABSTRACT

To the extent people are incompatible, conflict is inevitable (Deutsch, 1973), and people are incompatible-people differ in their needs, beliefs, goals, and behaviors. Ironically, incompatibility increases as people become more interdependent (Braiker & Kelley, 1979). That is, the more one interacts with another person, negotiating who does what and when, the greater the likelihood for conflict. Only in situations in which beliefs, goals, and behaviors are identical can we say that the incompatibility does not exist. In other words, a lack of conflict is assured in one of two extremely unlikely conditions: (a) when people are entirely constrained from thinking, feeling, and acting, or (b) when they are talking to clones of themselves.