Chinese educators recognize that for their students to take advantage of new opportunities, as well as handle emerging threats in their rapidly changing society, they must learn to manage many conflicts. But Chinese collectivism and valuing harmony may seem to make Western approaches to conflict resolution culturally inappropriate. This article…

Asserts the value of a theory for conflict management training and summarizes the theory of cooperative and competitive conflict and its empirical base. Outlines the theory's specific implications for conflict management training in China. (EV)

Undergraduates discussed a moral issue with a confederate who had the same opinion (no controversy) or opposite opinion (controversy) within either a cooperative or a competitive context. Subjects in the controversy conditions indicated more conceptual conflict, engaged in more information seeking, and were more accurate in taking the cognitive…

This study explores the effects of controlling influence attempts on social face and constructive conflict resolution. It also investigates the role of social face in how persons respond to evaluations by their peers. A sample of 90 college undergraduates randomly assigned to six conditions. The group's evaluation of the representative's relative…

Thirty undergraduate students discussed a moral issue with a confederate who held either the same or the opposing opinion. Subjects in the controversy condition indicated more accurate understanding of the confederate's reasoning than their counterparts; however, noncontroversy subjects erroneously believed they understood the confederate's…

A theory of social face in bargaining is being developed. Results from three studies suggest that strategies that convey to the high-power bargainer that he appears weak and incapable are likely to increase his competition and his resistance to agreement. Ingratiation in the form of strong affirmation of the high-power person's social face may…

The control orientation of educators may predispose them to resist compromising in conflict for fear of appearing ineffective to their colleagues. Students' and community groups' nonnegotiable demands may also induce this fear and resistance to compromising. Subjects who believed their group member evaluated them on resisting intimidation,…

This article discusses conflicts that arise between teachers and administrators due to the role system of the schools and reviews research on the necessary ingredients for cooperative conflict resolution and collaborative decision making. (SJL)

Students must make decisions about their lifestyle, future careers, academic pursuits, and classroom and school issues. Learning to make effective decisions for themselves and for society is an important aspect of competence. They can learn decision making through interacting and solving problems with others. A central ingredient for successful…