Applied Psychology - Conflict Escalation
24 April 2007
Personal MBA member Vincent Touquet points us to this extraordinarily interesting article: “He Who Cast the First Stone Probably Didn’t”, written by Daniel Gilbert of Stumbling on Happiness fame. (A non-business book I highly recommend.)
Key Takeaways:
- Conflicts naturally escalate because of three factors: (1) we can easily observe the actions of others, but not our own; (2) we can easily observe our own thoughts, but not those of others; (3) any pain we receive appears to be more real and hurtful than pain we inflict.
- The best way to diffuse this psychological aspect of conflict is to try to trust the good intentions of others and ignore what our brains infer to be escalating ill intent.
Think of this the next time you’re tempted to respond in retribution in any context, business or otherwise.
(Tip o’the hat to Penelope Trunk, who tipped Vincent off to the article.)
Like this post? Join over 32,000 readers and subscribe to the Personal MBA email update. You'll receive reading list updates, book summaries, and practical training - free!
TweetRecent Posts on PersonalMBA.com
- Personal MBA + The 100 Dollar Startup
- Chinese Edition, May Masterclass, New Book (!!!)
- Quotations Collection, Paperback, and May Masterclass
- Personal MBA Survey - Do You Have a Minute?
- 2012 Personal MBA Reading List Update
- Real Artists Ship
- Uncertainty - Jonathan Fields
- End Malaria - Creating a Personal Masterplan
- What Must an Educated Person Know?
- New York Times - 7 Tools to Manage Social Media Overload
