Conflict Triggers
Conflict Triggers
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Behavior that bothers you, like your roommate drinking straight from the milk carton, could be a conflict trigger.
- “He was drinking from the milk carton again. I caught him. It’s so disgusting—I have to use that milk too, you know!”
- “Is there any point to making lunch plans with Abby? She’s always breaking them.”
- “My boss is at it again. I swear, she would throw me underneath a truck if it would make her look good.”
Do any of these scenarios seem familiar? Everyone has a trigger that drives him or her absolutely mad when it happens, and conflict often ensues. The fact is, conflicts arise for a number of reasons. People often have conflicting goals, beliefs, or ideas; we face competition for scarce resources, such as money or time. We experience misunderstandings, and unfortunately, we lose our tempers. And sometimes we encounter people who are deceitful or uncooperative or who intentionally undermine our efforts to achieve our goals. In this section, we’ll examine a few common conflict triggers (Sanford, 2010).