Interpersonal Conflict

About two months ago in one of my classes I suppressed my feelings during an interpersonal conflict.  There was a student in my class who asked a question during group discussion about a particular company.  This student was confused about where the earnings for this company went because he believed it to be a foreign company.  I informed him that I believed it was an American company and he then aggressively said to me “You're wrong, it’s not an American company”.  I was taken aback by his aggressive response and decided to accommodate his opinion on the matter.  It seemed that he might have been upset about my disagreement.  The conversation came to an abrupt end when I kept my mouth shut.  If I wasn't as intimidated by his aggressive response or if I felt the resolution to this conflict was more important I might have supplied him with factual proof.  I didn't think it was worth the conflict.  His response style was defensive and seemed destructive.

A recent example of a time when I decided to express my feelings in a conflict was at the movie theater.  This was a conflict me and two friends had about where to sit in the theater.  I am quite particular about what I believe to be the best place to sit.  This movie was in 3D and I prefer to sit in the middle of the theater height and width-wise to obtain the best view.  The middle of the theater was already taken so we were trying to decide what area would be second best.  One of my friends wanted to sit towards the front, but I assertively told him I thought sitting too close could ruin the experience.  I decided to speak up because I thought I might have more experience with 3D movies.  I believe that my friends accommodated my suggestion because they either thought that I might have more experience or recognized that I care more about the presentation.  The conflict was easily resolved and seemed to be a constructive, albeit short, discussion.