Episode 2, Part 1: "There is No Away: Where Do People Go When They Avoid an Interpersonal Conflict?"

This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. Episode 2 article abstract: When people avoid conflict, there is no “away.” Where do they go physically or mentally? Both engaging and avoiding have a push and a pull. If we knew where avoiders go, we could study the pull of avoidance. This is a descriptive study (N = 446) of interpersonal conflict. We found that physical and mental avoidance appeared with similar frequency, and that they could occur in combination. People often recognized their need for avoidance early, based on the topic being familiar or various signals of trouble. Avoidance during the conflict could be physical or mental, but notably involved false agreement or topic manipulation. The possibility of violence (physical, verbal, or emotional) was often relevant. Relationship worries frequently motivated the avoidance. After the avoidance rumination was common, often centering on what we called “festering anger.”Author Bios:Dale Hample earned his Ph.D. in communication at the University of Illinois in 1975. He spent most of his career teaching at Western Illinois University but spent his last years at the University of Maryland. He mainly studied interpersonal arguing. With Judith M. Dallinger (his wife and Jessica’s mother), he co-developed the taking conflict personally measurement system. He has published four books and more than 150 other academic papers. Jessica Hample, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the communication department teaching in the Organizational and Relational Communication major. Jessica teaches and conducts research in health communication, especially in the context of vaccine hesitancy among parents. Jessica is interested in the way people talk and make decisions about health than in lab work.  Article Citation: Hample D. & Hample J., (2019) “There is No Away: Where Do People Go When They Avoid an Interpersonal Conflict?”, Negotiation and Conflict Management Research 13(4). p.304-325. doi: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.34891/fy30-0198