Abstract
Many social relationships people engage in are hierarchically structured, such as boss–employee, doctor/therapist–patient or teacher–pupil. Reasons to assign a leading role to one party in an interpersonal relationship can include advanced knowledge or expertise, seniority, agreement and ownership or control of resources. Differences in hierarchical status lead to particular expectations of and specific responsibilities assigned to the involved parties. The expectations include qualities of interaction, responsibilities, the other’s value system and, consequently, the other’s behaviour as well as assumptions concerning the other party’s expectations (i.e. expectations of second and third order). During communication the different agents often assume divergent appraisals and expectations as obvious and do not share these presuppositions explicitly. In addition, cognitive biases can be expected to systematically influence the social behaviour of all parties involved without the interacting people being fully aware of them. As a consequence, communication failures and different qualities of conflict can be expected to (re)occur frequently in hierarchical social relationships. In this chapter a model of communication failures in hierarchical relationships within Western cultures is proposed. This model can be useful for teaching purposes to prevent conflict in, for instance, medical or educational contexts. In addition, the proposed model helps in analysing existing conflict dynamics and repeatedly occurring conflicts with the goal of enabling the development of understanding and a change of behaviour. The model uses insights from a systemic approach on human communication, research on cognitive biases as well as motivational psychology and research on the interrelation of emotions, stress and coping behaviour.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Bodtker, A. M. & Jameson, J. K. (2001). Emotion In Conflict Formation and its Transformation: Application to Organizational Conflict Management. The International Journal of Conflict Management, 12(3), 259–275 doi.org/10.1108/eb022858
Breslin, J. M., MacRae, S. K., Bell, J. & Singer, P. A. (2005). Top 10 health care ethics challenges facing the public: views of Toronto bioethicists. BMC Medical Ethics. 6 (5), 5–8. doi.org/10.1186/1472-6939-6-5
Carver, C.S. & Scheier M.F. (1998). On the self-regulation of behaviour. Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, US.
Condit, C.M. (2006). Communication as Relationality. In G.J. Shepherd, J. St. John & T. Striphas (Eds.) Communication as…Perspectives on Theory (pp. 3–12). Sage Publications, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi.
De Cremer, D. & Tyler, T.R. (2007). The Effects of Trust in Authority and Procedural Fairness on Cooperation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92 (3), 639–649. doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.639
Eid M. & Diener E. (2009). Norms for Experiencing Emotions in Different Cultures: Inter- and Intranational Differences. In: Diener E. (eds) Culture and Well-Being. Social Indicators Research Series, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2352-0_9
Folkman S. & Lazarus, R. S. (1990). Coping and Emotion. In Nancy L. Stein, Bennett Leventhal, Thomas R. Trabasso (Eds.), Psychological and Biological Approaches To Emotion (pp. 313–333). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Frijda N. & Scherer K.R. (2009). Emotion definitions (psychological perspectives). In D Sander, KR Scherer (Eds.), Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences (pp. 200–202). Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press.
Gilbert, D.T. & Malone, P.S. (1995). The correspondence bias. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 21–38.
Griffin, E.M. (2012). A first look at Communication Theory (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill: New York.
Hall J. (1969). Conflict Management survey: A survey of one’s characteristic reaction to and handling of conflict between himself and others. Conroe, TX: Teleometrics.
Hochschild, A. R. (1983). The managed heart: Commercialization of human feeling. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Jones, T. S. (2000). Emotional communication in conflict: Essence and impact. In W. Eadie & P. Nelson (Eds.), The language of conflict and resolution (pp. 81–104). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Jones, T. S. (2006). Emotion in mediation: Implications, applications, opportunities and challenges. In M. Herrmann (Ed.), Handbook of mediation, (pp. 277–306). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Jones, T. S. & Bodtker, A. M. (2001). Mediating with Heart in Mind: Addressing Emotion in Mediation Practice. Negotiation Journal, 17(3), 217–244. doi.org/10.1023/A:1013283710190
Jones, E. E., & Nisbett, R. E. (1971). The actor and the observer: Divergent perceptions of the causes of behaviour. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.
Lazarus, R. S. (2001). Relational Meaning and Discrete Emotions. In K.R. Scherer, A. Schorr & T. Johnstone (Eds.), Appraisal Processes in Emotion, Theory, Methods, Research (pp. 37–67). New York: Oxford University Press.
Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer.
Liberman, N. & Förster, J. (2008). Expectancy, value and psychological distance: A new look at goal gradients. Social Cognition, 26, 515–533.
Locke, E.A. & Latham, G.P. (2002). Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation. A 35-Year Odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705–717 doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.57.9.705
Malle, B. F. (1999). How people explain behaviour: A new theoretical framework. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 21–43.
Malle, B.F. (2006). The Actor–Observer Asymmetry in Attribution: A (Surprising) Meta-Analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 132 (6), 895–919. doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.6.895
Malle, B.F., Knobe, J.M. & Nelson, S.E. (2007). Actor–observer asymmetries in explanations of behaviour: New answers to an old question. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93 (4), 491. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.4.491.supp
Meyer, W. U., Reisenzein, R., & Schützwohl, A. (1997). Towards a process analysis of emotions: The case of surprise. Motivation and Emotion, 21, 251–274.
Monzani, D., Steca, P., Greco, A., D’Addario, M., Pancani, L. & Cappelletti, E. (2015). Effective pursuit of personal goals: The fostering effect of dispositional optimism on goal commitment and goal progress, Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 203–214, doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.03.019.
Noordewier, M.K. & Breugelmans, S.M. (2013). On the valence of surprise, Cognition and Emotion, 27 (7), 1326–1334. doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.777660
Pruitt, D.G. & Rubin, J.Z. (1986). Social Conflict: Escalation, Stalemate ana Settlement. New York: Random House.
Reisenzein, R., & Meyer, W. U. (2009). Surprise. In D. Sander, & K. R. Scherer (Eds.), Oxford companion to the affective sciences (pp. 386–387). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roseman, I. (2001). A Model of Appraisal in the Emotion System. In K.R. Scherer, A. Schorr & T. Johnstone (Eds.), Appraisal Processes in Emotion, Theory, Methods, Research (pp. 68–91). New York: Oxford University Press.
Scherer, K. R. & Moors, A. (2019). The Emotion Process: Event Appraisal and Component Differentiation. Annual Review of Psychology, 70 (1), 719–745. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-122216-011854
Scherer, K. R., Schorr, A. & Johnstone, T. (Eds.). (2001). Appraisal Processes in Emotion, Theory, Methods, Research (pp. 37–67). New York: Oxford University Press.
Schulz von Thun, F. (2008). Miteinander reden: 1–3 (Sonderauflage). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt.
Seifart, C., Simon, A. & Schmidt, K. W. (2016). Ambulante Ethikberatung in Deutschland – eine Landkarte bestehender Konzepte und Strukturen. Ungekürzter Beitrag, der auf einer Umfrage zur ambulanten Ethikberatung im Rahmen einer deutschlandweiten Tagung „Ambulante Ethikberatung in Deutschland – aktueller Stand und künftige Entwicklung“ im Oktober 2016 basiert. https://www.laekh.de/images/Hessisches_Aerzteblatt/2018/04_2018/Langversion_Amb_Ethiberatung_Seifart.pdf (Abruf am 20.05.2018).
Shepherd, G. J, St. John, J. & Striphas, T. (Eds.). (2006). Communication as…Perspectives on Theory. Sage Publications, Inc.: Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi.
Silver, M. A. (1999). Love, Hate, and Other Emotional Interference in the Lawyer/Client Relationship. 6 Clinical L. Rev. 259, 259–313.
Strauss, M. (1987). Toward a Revised Model of Attorney-Client Relationship: The Argument for Autonomy, N.C. L. Rev. 65 (2), 315–349. http://scholarship.law.unc.edu/nclr/vol65/iss2/3
Tuomela, R. (2010). Cooperation as Joint Action. Analyse und Kritik 2,65–86. Stuttgart: Lucius & Lucius.
von Salisch, M. (Hrsg.). (2002). Emotionale Kompetenz entwickeln. Grundlagen in Kindheit und Jugend. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
von Schlippe, A. & Schweitzer, J. (2012). Lehrbuch der systemischen Therapie und Beratung I. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht: Göttingen.
Watzlawick, P., Bavelas, J.B., Jackson, D.D. (2011). Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns. WW Norton & Co: New York, London.
Woodward, A. L. (1999). Infants’ ability to distinguish between purposeful and non-purposeful behaviors. Infant Behavior and Development, 22,145–160.
Wortman, C.B. & Brehm J.W. (1975). Response to uncontrollable outcomes: An integration to reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. In: L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 8, Academic Press, New York, 277–336.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baumann, M. (2020). Qualities of Communication Failures in Hierarchical Relationships: A Theoretical Model for Conflict Prevention. In: Vanderheiden, E., Mayer, CH. (eds) Mistakes, Errors and Failures across Cultures. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35574-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35574-6_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-35573-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-35574-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)