Construal Level and Interpersonal Conflict Response

Abstract

The current study examined whether individuals who have been primed to think more abstractly would attempt to avoid conflict more often than those who have been primed to think more concretely. This hypothesis was tested by randomly assigning participants to either a high-level or low-level construal condition group. Participants in the high-level construal condition indicated why they complete tasks and those in the low-level construal condition indicated how they would complete tasks. Following the construal level manipulation, participants read three scenarios involving interpersonal conflict. Participants indicated which response to conflict they felt they would engage in. Participants then completed an agreeableness survey to see if personality type had an influence on response choice. Contrary to the hypothesis, there was no statistically significant difference in response choice between the two condition groups. Participants in both condition groups may have felt that one choice was more ideal than the other despite construal manipulation. These results may have indicated that responses to hypothetical scenarios are not an accurate assessment of real-life conflict resolution.