Writing Assignment

COMM 265G: Principles of Human Communication

Learning Objective: This assignment emphasizes the connection between family communication and conflict behaviors. This analysis paper will focus on written communication skills for synthesis and application of family and conflict communication concepts as discussed in class and in your textbook. In doing so, you will explore the ways that individuals handle and resolve conflict.

Assignment

For this paper, you will analyze how your family’s conflict climate has impacted the way you approach conflict. Specifically, this essay requires you to reflect on your family’s conversation and conformity orientations while you were growing up and consider how those orientations may have shaped your conflict behaviors today.

In order to conduct a thoughtful analysis, it is best if you have a relatively recent (within the last year) and significant conflict episode or conflictual interaction to analyze. It does not matter whether the conflict was with a friend, romantic partner, roommate, sibling, parent, or some other person in your life—what matters is that the conflict was at least somewhat significant to you, the other person, and your relationship with him/her. In other words, it would not be that interesting or meaningful to analyze a small disagreement with a friend over what movie to see or a brief dispute with a cashier at Target over a coupon.

Introduction (half to one page)

Begin your essay with a sentence or two that both “hooks” (attention device) the reader and introduces your topic (conflict). Next, briefly describe the conflict scenario you are focusing on in the paper. Finally, explain the purpose of your paper (thesis statement) and preview what you will be doing in the body of the paper (like a preview of main points in a speech).

Body

A. Use the Family Conflict Climates (pp. 202-205) from the text to describe your own family’s conflict climates while you were growing up. Analyze and discuss your family’s conversation and conformity orientations. Was your family high or low in conversation? High or low in conformity? Next, discuss which specific conflict climate type (pluralistic, consensual, protective, or laissez-faire) best describes your family’s conflict orientation. If your family’s conflict climate type changed over the years or varied based on the situation/context, please discuss that as well. Provide specific examples of experiences or specific interactions with family members growing up that illustrate your points.

B. Second, discuss how your family’s conflict climate has influenced how you approach conflict in your relationships today. Which conflict approach (indirect and competitive, direct and competitive, indirect and cooperative, or direct and cooperative) best describes how you handle conflict most of the time? What behaviors within each approach do you typically engage in during a conflict (see chart on p. 203)?

C. Third, to support your conflict analysis above, discuss how your family has influenced your personal approach to conflict styles by describing your approach and behaviors during a recent conflict with a friend, family member, roommate, or other significant person in your life. Be sure to emphasize how your family’s conflict climate might have impacted how you handled this particular conflict.

Conclusion (half page)

Finish your paper by describing how using these theoretical concepts have helped you to understand your relationship. In doing so, briefly recap the main points of the paper and provide a closing statement.

Format

This paper should be essay style with an introduction, transitions, body, and conclusion. You must submit an electronic copy of this paper on the due date via Canvas. The paper should be 4-6 typed pages (12 pt. font, one-inch margins top, bottom, left, and right) not including references or a cover page, double spaced, and proofread for grammatical and typographical errors. All in-text and citations should be in APA format.