EPSY 5152: Psychology of Conflict Resolution

Official syllabus will be handed out in class

Instructor: David W. Johnson, 60 Peik Hall, 624-7031

Course description

This course is a broad overview of the field of conflict resolution. Class sessions will be spent in lectures, discussions, simulations, role-plays, and experiential exercises. Participants will become acquainted with the major theories, research, and major figures in the field.

Most topics will be teasers in the sense that entire courses could be developed around many of the areas we will discuss in one class session. The nature of conflict, the role of conflict in human evolution, and intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup theories of conflict are covered. The use of distributive and integrative negotiation procedures are examined. Factors influencing the resolution of conflict will be discussed, such as communication, threats and promises, trust and suspicion, structural and attitudinal effects on conflict resolution, and strategies for inducing cooperation in an adversary. Special attention is paid to applying conflict theory to organizational and educational settings.

Participants will engage in negotiations and mediations and will be trained to coach others in basic negotiation and mediation skills. Participants will leave this course wanting to delve further into specific topics in conflict resolution.

Course objectives

1. Promote mastery of the theory and research relevant to conflict and its resolution.
2. Encourage the application of conflict theory and research to applied situations.
3. Increase students’ understanding of own conflict strategies and personal implicit theories of constructive conflict management.
4. Improve students’ conflict management skills.

Texts

Deutsch, M. (1973). The resolution of conflict. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, F. (2003). Joining together: Group theory and group skills (8th Ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1995). Teaching students to be peacemakers (3rd Ed.). Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company.

Tjosvold, D., & Johnson, D. W. (Eds.) (1983). Productive conflict management: Perspectives for organizations. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company. (Recommended Only)

Johnson, D. W., & Johnson, R. (1989). Cooperation and competition: Theory and research. Edina, MN: Interaction Book Company. (Recommended Only)

Course requirements

1. Attend class.
2. Be prepared for and actively involved in class discussions and activities.
3. Read assigned material each week.
4. Write weekly papers.
5. Write a research review paper discussing some aspect of conflict theory and research and design a relevant research study.
6. Write a paper describing and diagnosing a conflict. The conflict may be intrapersonal, interpersonal, or intergroup. Include a description of the current level of constructiveness of the conflict and the interventions you would make to increase its constructiveness.
7. Write a weekly journal.
8. Be a contributing member of a group that makes a class presentation.

All written assignments must be critiqued by the members of your base groups. Hand in all written assignments the last day of class with copies of the critiques by the other members of your base group. Use the APA style of referencing.

Grading

Grades will be determined on the basis of learning contracts. A certain amount of work is expected of all students. The alternative contracts are:

Grade B: Course Requirements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8.

Grade A: All Course Requirements (1 - 8).

All requirements must be completed at a acceptable performance level.

Basic course requirements

The basic assumption of this course is that learning results from a continuing process of rational discourse. Within the course there are both opportunities and responsibilities. Your opportunity is to learn. Your responsibilities are to maximize your learning from the course (i.e., improve your intellectual understanding), maximize the learning of your classmates, and to apply what you learn to your work and personal life. To take advantage of the opportunity and to meet your responsibilities you are to:

1. Master the basic concepts, theories, research studies, and researchers. You are expected to know more after you have finished the course than you did before.

2. Think critically about the course content and topics to achieve understanding and insights.

3. Explain precisely to several classmates your learnings, insights, and conclusions. Your learning is not complete until you teach what you know to someone else and can describe precisely what you have learned.

4. Ask others to share their knowledge, conclusions, and insights with you. When they do so, listen carefully, elaborate by explaining how what you have just learned from them fits in with previous knowledge learned, and thank them.

5. Engage in intellectual controversy by taking positions counter to those of your classmates, developing clear rationales from the material in the texts, challenging their reasoning and conclusions, and arguing the issues until you are logically persuaded. Review the rules for constructive controversy before doing so.

6. Get your work done on time. You cannot deprive classmates of their opportunity and obligations to help you improve your understanding, conclusions, and insights.

7. Plan how to apply what you have learned to improve the quality of your work and personal life. You should be able to describe precisely how you can use what you have learned in this class.