To see how attributional errors can influence conflicts, write a brief essay describing a recent conflict you experienced, and answer these questions: Who was to blame? Who behaved cooperatively? When you said or did something negative, what caused your behavior? Then, analyze your answers and communication by responding to these prompts: Are you apportioning blame equally, or is some bias apparent? What impact did your judgments have on your communication choices and the way the conflict ended? How might different attributions have led you to communicate differently in the conflict?

2 Choose Your Own Ending

With a partner, determine a common, important conflict you both experience (e.g., conflicts with roommates over room rules, or with parents over family obligations). Then, decide what each type of conflict ending (identified on pp. 200–202) would look like for this example. For instance, given your conflict, what would a structural improvement look like? How would a compromise work out? Once you've identified each ending, which ones are optimal? Why? Which approaches would result in those endings? What does this tell you about approaches and endings for different conflict situations?