Interpersonal Conflict

Abstract

In psychology, interpersonal relationships refer to the study of how people interact with each other and form a variety of relationships, including familial, romantic, professional, casual, and more. These relationships can also vary in nature; cooperative, competitive, productive, destructive, friendly, or antagonistic. Relationships are formed and broken with each new meeting and parting, every encounter playing some part in shaping your life, to varying degrees, just as you shape the lives of others. The interactions we have with other people throughout our lives form a very large proportion of our entire existence, giving us much of the knowledge we hold, molding our views on the world and cultural heritage, and are at the core of our very identities as we form perceptions of ourselves based on our past experiences as a member of society. It is with each new relationship we form, regardless of how short or weak, that we share ideas. These ideas are often mundane and trivial, such as an unspoken agreement with the person taking your order at the drive-thru that a cheeseburger really is worth $0.99. They are also quite often of a more substantial nature, such as your religious and political views, cultural background, economic status, and so forth. We share these ideas with others not just by word of mouth or pen, but in the clothes we wear, the vehicles we drive, the manner in which we hold ourselves, or the attitude we keep. Gangs will frequently share a unifying identifier, such as a specific color or a particular type of tattoo, the latter of which have been used for millennia around much of the world to identify such things as tribal association, social class, family, job, and any variety of accomplishments (e.g., becoming an adult).