A Lewinian perspective on taking conflict personally: Revision, refinement, and validation of the instrument

Taking conflict personally (TCP) has been defined as a negative emotional reaction to participating in a conflict. This paper locates the notions of affective climate in general, and TCP in particular, within a Lewinian frame. The theoretical connections among field theory, defensiveness, attributions, and TCP are described. Earlier work has generated a multidimensional scale for measurement of TCP, and has shown the subscales’ associations with argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, communication apprehension, own conflict style, superior's conflict style, arguing behaviors, communication competence, and organizational climate. The present investigation responds to some psychometric and conceptual difficulties with the original version of the TCP scales by revising the measurement instrument. This paper proposes items for the measurement of six TCP subscales: direct personalization, persecution feelings, stress reaction, positive relational effects, negative relational effects, and like/dislike valence. The revised scales replicate the leading results from the original validating study, and extend our understanding of TCP's relationship to a conflict's perceived climate.

Key concepts:

• Interpersonal conflict
• field theory
• defensiveness
• taking conflict personally