Some Determinants of Conflict Avoidance

Most research on conflict resolution has ignored the fact that conflict avoidance may be used as a strategy of conflict resolution. To fill this gap, a study was designed to examine the determinants of the occurrence of conflict avoidance in two cultural groups. College students and residents of a community in the United States and in Hong Kong were asked to read a conflict scenario and indicate how likely they would be to pursue the conflict. A conflict was more likely to be pursued if the stakes involved were large and if the would-be disputant was from an out-group. Chinese subjects were less likely to pursue a conflict with an in-group disputant, and more likely to pursue a conflict with an out-group disputant, than were Americans. The cultural differences were interpreted as consistent with previous conceptualizations of cultural collectivism.