Beyond Culture: Self-Concept, Biology, Upbringing, Status and Relationships

In Managing Conflict, the reading says that culture matters in conflict, but it is not the only factor. Paragraphs 9–11 explain several other influences on conflict style.

Biology

First, the reading says that our approach to conflict may be part of our biological makeup (Beatty and McCroskey, 1997, as cited in Managing Conflict). The passage does not go beyond this point, but it presents biology as one possible influence in addition to culture.

Self-concept

The reading gives special importance to self-concept. According to Managing Conflict, scholarship suggests that a person’s self-concept is more powerful than culture in determining conflict style (Oetzel et al., 2001; Ting-Toomey et al., 2001).

The passage identifies three broad ways people may see themselves:

• Independent
• Interdependent
• Both independent and interdependent

This means that how people understand themselves in relation to others can shape how they deal with disagreement, sometimes even more strongly than culture does.

Parental influence and upbringing

Paragraph 10 of Managing Conflict also points to upbringing, especially parental influence.

• Parents who use corporal punishment with their children are more likely to have children who approve of aggressive ways of solving problems, such as hitting siblings and peers (Simons and Wurtele, 2010, as cited in Managing Conflict).
• The reading also says there is a significant relationship between the way a mother handles conflict and the style used by her adult children (Martin et al., 1997, as cited in Managing Conflict).

So, the family can help shape later conflict behaviour through both punishment practices and parental modelling.

Status

Another important factor is status. In Managing Conflict, status has a powerful effect on conflict styles, at least in individualistic cultures (Kim et al., 2007).

The reading gives an example using two conflict situations: one with a classmate and one with a professor.

• Students with a more individualistic orientation said they would be more argumentative with a classmate than with a professor.
• These students also felt more apprehension about conflict with the professor.
• Students with a more collectivistic orientation were not more argumentative with a peer or more avoidant with a professor.
• However, both groups reported more apprehension about having a conflict with a professor.

This shows that differences in status between the people involved can change how conflict is approached.

Relationships

Finally, the reading says that the “culture” of each relationship can shape behaviour (Messman and Canary, 1998, as cited in Managing Conflict). In other words, people may handle disagreements differently depending on the relationship itself. A person may be calm and civil in one relationship but behave very differently in another if that relationship has different habits and expectations.

Conclusion

According to Managing Conflict, culture is only one influence on conflict style. Biology may play a part, but the reading especially emphasizes self-concept, parental influence, status, and the culture of particular relationships. Together, these factors help explain why people from the same culture may still handle conflict in very different ways.