Dark Side Communication and Conflict Challenge

Relational Development Challenges
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Relational Development Challenges
Part I
Communication might result in positive outcomes or conflict, relationship termination, hurt, and psychological damage. Specifically, the dark-side of communication leads to negative consequences. Some of the interpersonal communication theories related to dark-side communication and conflict include verbal aggression, hurtful messages, deception, betrayal, stalking, defensiveness, bullying, and psychological abuse. In most cases, people seek to understand the state or nature of their relationships. One of the effective ways to know the nature of a relationship is by talking about it. However, in some cases, the timing might not be right. That might lead to uncertainty regarding the nature of a relationship, meaning that it is headed to the termination. Individuals engage in interpersonal communication so that they can fully understand their partners, may it be in romantic, friendship, workplace, or family relationships (Wrench, Punyanunt-Carter, & Thweatt, 2019). In that light, it becomes easy to understand how other people feel about a relationship and if they are willing to continue in it. For example, some individuals prefer to get their friends’ opinions before they start dating, which means that they seek relevant information, particularly during the early stages. One of the interpersonal communication theories related to dark-side communication and conflict is hurtful messages. Notably, there is no perfect relationship. Individuals sometimes utter words that hurt others even in the most satisfying relationships. When this happens, people’s feelings are hurt. The various types of hurtful messages are accusations, directives, threats, and informative statements among others. For instance, accusations entail blaming each other. In addition, informative statements refer to hurtful messages that usually reveal sensitive information about a person.
Verbal aggression is another interpersonal communication theory related to dark-side communication and conflict. In particular, it entails communication that is meant to attack a person’s self-concept by intending to hurt someone psychologically (Spitzberg & Cupach, 2014). For instance, individuals engage in conversations or arguments and call each other’s names. Verbal aggression is a destructive form of communication. During interpersonal disputes, verbal aggression is usually used. For instance, based on the physical appearance of an individual, especially for obese people, an example of verbal aggression would be that one is fat like a pig. Another example of verbal aggression would be attacking someone based on their education level. For those who did not go to college, telling them that they do not even have a college degree when arguing is considered verbal aggression meant to make them feel bad so that they can probably not contribute to a specific conversation. Intergeneration communication and family violence are likely to lead to verbal aggression, particularly when taking care of the elderly in situations where they cannot help themselves, such as clothing or toileting (Lin & Giles, 2013). Another dark-side of communication is deception. Despite people knowing that lying is wrong and that they should not engage in such behavior, in some instances, they deceive others. Lies are more malicious and can lead to the termination of a well-founded relationship. Deception might involve falsification, concealing vital information deliberately, and equivocation. Equivocation refers to making statements that have numerous meanings. For instance, an individual might ask his or her romantic partner whether he or she had talked with her or his ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend. Other interpersonal communication theories that reveal the dark-side of communication are betrayal, stalking, negative conflict spirals, and defensiveness.
Part II
In romantic and workplace relationships, the challenges or dark-side of communication discussed in part I are usually experienced. Hurtful messages are common in different types of relationships. Their primary objective is to hurt the feelings of others (Dunleavy et al., 2009). For example, individuals in romantic relationships might encounter this dark-side of communication and conflict during their interpersonal interactions. Couples can accuse each other based on their behaviors and capabilities. Since these are people who understand one another’s behavior, hurtful messages can be used to hurt others’ feelings. For example, a person might accuse his or her romantic partner that he or she is the reason that they are in constant financial problems. In other moments during heated arguments, individuals in a romantic relationship might tell each other to “go to hell,” “never call me again,” and “I only married you only because you would have been miserable without me.” Such messages are hurtful and make the ones targeted feel bad or regret specific things they have done in the past. The intention of hurtful messages is to hurt individuals’ feelings. Hurtful messages are used in workplace relationships. In most cases, they are triggered by leaders or managers. For example, when a manager or supervisor wants to hurt the feelings of an employee who has not met the stated requirements, the person can say, “you are underqualified, and I only hired you since the company owner is your relative.” In addition, another example of a hurtful message in the workplace context might be “you will never surpass the performance of the former individual who worked in your position.” Such messages make people in romantic or workplace relationships feel bad and might lead to the termination of a relationship.
Verbal aggression is another dark-side of comm...