Journal Articles

Nonlinear Dynamics of Individual and Interpersonal Conflict in an Experimental Group

---

The current study examines the spread of experimentally induced conflict and rigidity from an individual to a group through the perspective of self-organization theory. The dependent measure of rigidity was operationally defined as entropy in conversational turn-taking dynamics in the small group. Four female undergraduates participated in a series of four 30-min discussions. The frequency distribution of turn-taking patterns for each discussion was predicted to fit an inverse power-law (IPL) model, with drops in entropy in response to conflict within a single group member following baseline. Consistent with predictions, results indicated significant fits to the inverse power-law model in each discussion and a significant drop in entropy values following the conflict induction. These results suggest that small groups are self-organizing systems in which the spread of conflict between group and individual dynamics occurs by way of shifts toward systemic rigidity.

---

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information

Series Title

Small Group Research

Call Number

-

Publisher

California : Sage Publications., 2008

Collation

-

Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

10464964

Classification

-

Content Type

-

Media Type

-

Carrier Type

-

Edition

Vol. 39, No. 2, April 2008. Page 150 - 178

Subject(s)

Conflict
Nonlinear dynamics
Systems theory
Interpersonal relations
Entropy
Nonlinear Dynamics of Individual and Interpersonal

Specific Detail Info

-

Statement of Responsibility

-

Other version/related

File Attachment

Comments

---

You must be logged in to post a comment