7 effective strategies for dealing with conflict

Have you ever tried to find two absolutely identical people? Even if there are those who can answer this question in the affirmative, the likelihood that their search will be successful is very small, because there cannot be two identical people, just like two identical fingerprints or two identical irises. This is, perhaps, one of the reasons why conflicts arise between people from time to time.

And in order to be able to effectively resolve conflict situations, a person simply needs to know how to behave when they arise, i.e. be able to choose a manner of behavior that is most suitable for the characteristics of each specific situation. But many people always behave the same way during conflict interactions, having absolutely no idea that they can change the strategy of their behavior. It is about strategies for behavior in conflict that we will talk about today.

And you can learn how to find approaches to different people and establish connections in our online program “The Best Communication Techniques.”

But first, it is worth saying that one of the most prominent conflict experts, Kenneth Thomas, divided all types of behavior in conflict situations into two main areas - the desire of the subject of the conflict to defend his personal interests and the desire of the subject of the conflict to take into account the interests of other people. It is on the basis of these criteria that we can identify the main strategies of people’s behavior in conflict. There are five of them in total:

Rivalry
Device
Evasion
Compromise
Cooperation

We will, of course, consider them all. But while these five strategies are exhaustive for most jobs like this, we'll look at two more effective strategies. Namely:

Suppression
Negotiation

So, let’s not, as they say, use “airtime” unnecessarily, and let’s get down to the main topic of today’s article.

Rivalry

Rivalry is a type of behavior when a subject strives to satisfy his own interests, causing damage to the interests of the opposing subject. Following the presented strategy, a person is confident that only one participant can gain the upper hand in a conflict, and victory for one will always mean defeat for the other. A person who prefers competition will “push his line” in every way available to him. They will not take into account the opposite position.

Basic human actions with the “Competition” strategy

Tight control over your opponent's actions
Constant and deliberate pressure on an opponent by any means
The use of deception and tricks to create an advantage in one’s favor
Provoking your opponent to make mistakes and ill-considered steps
Reluctance to engage in constructive dialogue due to overconfidence

Pros and cons of the “Rivalry” strategy

Rigidly defending one's position can, of course, help the subject gain the upper hand in the event of a conflict. But such a strategy cannot be applied if the subsequent interaction of people involves long-term relationships, for example, joint work, friendship, love. After all, relationships can develop and generally have the right to exist only if the desires and interests of all people are taken into account, and the defeat of one will mean defeat for everyone. Therefore, if the person with whom you have a conflict is dear to you or the relationship with him is important to you for some reason, it is better not to use the strategy of competition to resolve the conflict.

Rivalry tactics

Photo by Keira Burton: Pexels
If you choose this tactic, then the outcome of the dispute is important to you. You stand up for what you really believe in, and it is very important for you to emerge victorious in a conflict situation. You feel your strength, your truth. You have the necessary resources, and by any means you must achieve your goal.

Relations with the conflicting party are generally unimportant. Or perhaps they are important, but there is no time to think and an urgent decision needs to be made. In such situations it will be fast and effective. There are times when you really want to get your way, even if the subject of the dispute itself is complete nonsense. Once again prove to someone that you are right by demonstrating your authority.

But you should not constantly adhere to this form of behavior. This position does not allow one to look at different options and does not allow for listening to other opinions. And even more so does not take into account other people's interests.

Device

Adaptation as a way of behavior in a conflict is characterized by the fact that the subject is ready to put his needs, desires and interests into the background and make concessions to the opponent in order to prevent confrontation. This strategy is often chosen by people with low self-esteem, insecure and who believe that their position and opinion should not be taken into account.

Basic human actions with the “Adaptation” strategy

Constant agreement with the opponent’s demands to please him
Active demonstration of a passive position
No claim to victory and resistance
Flattery, pandering to the opponent

Pros and cons of the Accommodation strategy

In the event that the subject of the conflict is not particularly important, and the main thing is to maintain constructive interaction, allowing the person to gain the upper hand, thereby asserting himself, can be the most effective way to resolve the conflict. However, if the cause of the conflict is something significant, something that affects the feelings of all people involved in the conflict, then such a strategy will not bring the desired result. In this case, the result will be only negative emotions of the one who made concessions, and all trust, mutual understanding and respect between the participants may completely disappear.

Strategies

In psychology, it is customary to distinguish the following strategies:

Rivalry . Victory is more important than resolving the conflict. This strategy assumes the complete victory of one of the parties.
Evasion . The participant takes the position of a victim, refuses to discuss anything or take any action. Those around them help and feel sorry for the victim, but the conflict remains unresolved.
Compromise . Both participants make concessions to satisfy as many of each other's needs as possible. However, the conflict still remains unresolved, and discontent persists.
Device . The goal is to maintain good relationships. A person is ready to sacrifice something in order to continue to be friends with him. With this approach, minor conflicts can resolve themselves, but with serious contradictions this will only aggravate the situation.
Cooperation . The goal is to eliminate the cause of the conflict and resolve the problem. Both participants communicate a lot, express their needs and desires, listen to their opponent, and are interested in making sure that both feel as good as possible.

Avoidance

The essence of this strategy is that a person tries to do everything possible to postpone conflict and important decisions until later. With this strategy, a person not only does not defend his own interests, but also does not pay attention to the interests of his opponent.

Basic human actions with the “Avoidance” strategy

Refusal to interact with an opponent
Demonstrative withdrawal tactics
Refusal to use force
Ignoring any information from the opponent, refusing to collect facts
Denial of the importance and seriousness of the conflict
Deliberate slowness in decision making
Fear of making a retaliatory move

Pros and cons of the Avoidance strategy

The “Avoidance” strategy can be useful in a situation where the essence of the conflict is not particularly important or when there are no plans to maintain relations with the opponent. But here again: if a relationship with a person is important to you, then avoiding responsibility and shifting problems onto someone else’s shoulders will not resolve the situation, otherwise it threatens not only to worsen the situation, but also to deteriorate the relationship and even its final break.

Psychological types and behavior in conflict

People's behavior in the occurrence of interpersonal conflicts and in their resolution is significantly influenced by differences in the types of people, which must be taken into account when trying to prevent conflicts and resolve them. O. Kroeger and J. Tewson believe that different preferences of people’s characters underlie their interactions and without taking them into account it is impossible to resolve any conflict, “We believe that any model of conflict resolution that does not take into account interpersonal differences is doomed to failure”[5 ]. Not a single interpersonal conflict passes without the manifestation of a personal attitude towards what is happening and its participants from all the people involved in it. Personality characteristics are manifested in its temperament, character and level of personal development.

1. Temperament is given to a person at birth and determines the speed, pace, intensity and rhythm of a person’s mental processes and states. Classification of types of temperaments carried out by Hippocrates back in the 5th century. BC, has not undergone significant changes to this day. She was only enriched thanks to the teachings of I.P. Pavlova about the properties of the nervous system and types of higher nervous activity. Therefore, sanguine people are sometimes added to - strong, balanced, agile; to phlegmatic people - strong, balanced, inert; to choleric people - strong, unbalanced; to melancholic people - weak.

The behavior of sanguine people is characterized by mobility, a tendency to change impressions, responsiveness, and sociability; the behavior of phlegmatic people - slowness, stability, isolation, weak external expression of emotions, logic in judgments; behavior of choleric people - openness, sudden mood swings, instability, violent reactions; melancholics - instability, slight vulnerability, unsociability, deep emotional experiences.

Temperament has a significant impact on human behavior in interpersonal conflicts. For example, a choleric person is easy to involve in a conflict situation, while a phlegmatic person, on the contrary, is difficult to lose his temper.

2. The typology of human character traits (a discipline that studies character types and their influence on joint communication) was first developed by C. G. Jung in his work “Psychological Types.” It was later studied by Katharina Briggs and Isabel Briggs-Myers, who published the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), which anyone interested can use to determine their personality preferences. This typology identifies four pairs of opposing preferences:

Extroverts – Introverts

Sensory – Intuitive

Thinkers - Feelers

Deciders – Perceivers

Each character type corresponds to four of the given preferences. Thus, there are sixteen character types in total. Character is formed due to the asymmetry of the left and right hemispheres of the brain by the age of seven and does not change radically throughout life. The right hemisphere forms emotions and subconscious activities, the left – logical and rational activities. Therefore, introverts never become extroverts, and vice versa. Just as left-handed people never become right-handed, although they can learn to use their other hand more effectively. Only through incredible efforts can you overcome “your nature,” but only in behavior.

The problem of the influence of character types on the emergence of interpersonal conflicts and their resolution is that people with opposite preferences of their character types may find themselves in a situation of jointly solving one problem, and their joint interaction may be threatened. For example, an extrovert and an introvert are distinguished from each other by their attitude towards the outside world. Extroverts draw their energy from the outside world. And introverts find this energy within themselves. They fix their interests on the phenomena of their own inner world, to which they attach the highest value. Interpersonal conflicts between extroverts and introverts may arise due to differences in problem solving attitudes. An extrovert is dynamic, he constantly talks, prefers to discuss everything out loud. An introvert must think things through before speaking out. An extrovert easily takes a new turn when discussing a problem and begins to discuss it openly again. For an introvert, every turn in the discussion puts him in a difficult position; he needs time to comprehend. When solving a problem together, the extrovert will constantly talk and the introvert will remain silent. The extrovert can take this silence as consent and impose his decision, with which the introvert may fundamentally disagree; he simply did not have the opportunity to speak out. This situation is fraught with conflict. Moreover, the dominant behavior of an extrovert when interacting with an introvert can cause the latter’s illness.

Extroverts, like introverts, can collect information in opposite ways - sensory or intuitive. People of the sensory type collect information based on their senses; they need to see, touch, hear, smell everything. For them, details and facts are more important and least of all what they mean. People with intuitive preferences, having received information through the senses, intuitively look for their indirect meaning and relationships between and within phenomena. Intuitionists approach everything globally. Any meeting of a person with sensory preferences and intuitive ones can result in a conflict.

People can make decisions differently based on the information they receive. A person of the thinking type, when making decisions, is guided by the set goal, his attention is concentrated on solving the problem. A feeling type person focuses on how his decision will be perceived by other people whom it concerns. Therefore, he is in no hurry to make decisions. If both types are forced to make a decision together, there may be clashes. But, if everyone understands the preferences of the other, then when interacting they can complement each other. Feelers will restrain thinkers from making hasty decisions, and they, in turn, will not allow the decision to be postponed indefinitely.

According to people’s attitude to life, in this classification they are divided into deciders and perceivers. Deciders plan everything, make decisions without stress, they always do something. Perceivers prefer to accumulate information (everything can change), they are in no hurry to make decisions. With constant joint interaction between these two types, conflict situations may arise when they do not understand the preferences of their characters and the characters of the other party.

The typology convincingly shows that people have different characters; at least there are 16 character types. People are more likely to have successful, conflict-free interactions when they respect the opinions of others. And different views on the same phenomenon are quite natural. Misunderstandings due to discrepancies in character types begin when only one’s own preferences are uncompromisingly defended. The better people know the traits, first of all, of their character, the more fruitful their interaction with other people will be. They will have fewer complaints against other people. This behavior is the most favorable environment for conflict-free communication.

3. Despite the fact that temperament and character have a significant impact on the motivation of people’s behavior in the emergence and resolution of conflicts, their reaction to external stimuli is of a more complex nature. The final decision on action is made by the individual. The level of personal development is another important factor influencing the occurrence of interpersonal conflict.

The personality develops and improves in the process of its socialization, active assimilation and reproduction of social experience. A person has to adjust his actions in accordance with generally accepted norms and rules of behavior of others. To do this, manifestations of your temperament and character must be kept under constant control. When a person copes with this task, he has less friction with others. Problems arise when a person’s behavior is determined only by temperament and character traits, and the individual does not participate in this process, or is not able to “control himself.”

One of the authoritative scientific concepts of personality is “Self-concept”, developed by K. Rogers. “I-concept” represents each person’s conscious, unique system of ideas about himself. It is formed in the process of self-knowledge, through introspection and introspection of one’s actions, experiences, thoughts, states. In this process, one defines oneself and searches for one’s place in the world around us. “Self-concept” is the idea of how a person would act in relation to himself. She acts as what he means to himself. “I-concentration” is the inner world of a person, accessible only to him. It is an idea not only of what we are, but also of what we believe ourselves to be and what we would like to be. The “I-concept” contains its own ideal to which its bearer strives. The way a person evaluates himself acts as the level of self-esteem. This process of creating a “Self-concept” occurs throughout life - from adaptation to society in youth, to the transfer of life experience in adulthood.

The need to understand the “I-concept” lies in the fact that during interpersonal interaction people do not always act adequately to the current situation; the motivation for their behavior depends on how they see themselves. Psychologists find that a person’s self-esteem, expressed in the “I-concept,” can be adequate, overestimated and underestimated. The level of each person’s claims to their own recognition – adequate, overestimated and underestimated – also depends on these self-esteem.

With adequate self-esteem and adequate aspirations, people have more success and fewer conflict situations when interacting with other people. With inflated self-esteem, a person who deliberately emphasizes his superiority over others, as a rule, has constant problems with others. No one can put up with a disdainful attitude towards themselves; the reaction to such behavior is always negative. People with high self-esteem are potentially conflicted, especially in situations of various kinds of incentives and rewards. People with low self-esteem and low aspirations have many failures, and, consequently, experiences of failure. The behavior of a person with low aspirations forms in him an “inferiority complex,” lack of independence, and dependence on others.

E. Shostrom, known for his work “Anti-Carnegie or Manipulator,” in his concept divides all people into manipulators and actualizers. Manipulators are people who do not trust anyone, including themselves. Their actions are permeated by lies (falsity, fraud), unawareness (apathy, boredom), control (isolation, intentionality) and cynicism (unbelief). Manipulators are always potentially conflicting. The opposite of manipulators are actualizers. They are characterized by honesty (transparency, sincerity, authenticity), awareness (responsiveness, vitality, interest), freedom (spontaneity, openness), trust (faith, conviction). They have deep faith in others and themselves. Actualizers have fewer problems with others, and it is easier to resolve conflicts with them.

D. Rotter divides all people into externals and internals. Externals believe that everything that happens to them is the result of external forces, circumstances, chance, other people, etc. They tend to blame others for their failures, which is fraught with conflict situations when interacting with people. Internals believe that everything that happens to them is the result of their own efforts. They blame only themselves for all their own failures. They have an active life position, independence, responsibility for their actions, and interpersonal conflicts are unacceptable for them.

K. Leonhard developed a typology of accentuated personalities. He showed that people with exaggerated development of certain character traits are characterized by behavior that differs from the norm, but has not yet turned into pathology. Some of the accentuations are very fertile ground for conflict situations to arise. For example, hysterical (demonstrative) accentuation is the desire to attract attention to oneself at any cost (tears, fainting, scandals, illness, boasting, a tendency to deceit and fantasy, lack of remorse, a tendency to unusual hobbies).

The literature presents personality typologies by E. Kretschmer, W. Sheldon, B. S. Bratus, R. May, etc. Each of them expands the understanding of the complexity of personality structure and its mental components. All typologies notice the motivational dominant of a person’s behavior, which has formed in him and has become decisive, and characterizes him as an individuality and personality.

An in-depth understanding of the manifestations of temperament, character type, and personality traits provides a real opportunity to prevent and prevent interpersonal conflicts, to resolve them constructively, as well as to create an atmosphere of favorable interaction. In interpersonal clashes, people express their grievances against each other mainly in words, in verbal form. Therefore, an important role here is played by how words are pronounced - in a friendly or aggressive form. It has long been known that the word heals, but the word also cripples. It is necessary to treat each other very carefully in any situation; conflict-free interaction creates positive emotions in people.

Negotiation is a universal means of conflict resolution. They end not only interpersonal conflicts, but even international wars. Conditions must be ripe for negotiations. The first thing you need to do on this path in the event of a conflict situation is not to respond to insults with an insult, and not to allow yourself to be drawn into the conflict. Give the provoking party an opportunity to speak out. If you have already become involved in a conflict, you need to find the strength within yourself and get out of it unilaterally. However, the problem should not be left unresolved; it is necessary to find the cause of the conflict and its other elements, and assess your capabilities to solve the problem. After favorable conditions appear, you can look for ways to negotiate, which should be conducted on equal terms, without infringing on each other’s interests. Only behavior aimed at compromise and cooperation can lead to a successful outcome in resolving an interpersonal conflict.

Compromise

Compromise is a partial satisfaction of the interests of all subjects of conflict interaction.

Basic human actions with the “Compromise” strategy

Focus on equality of positions
Offering your own options in response to your opponent’s offer of options
Sometimes using cunning or flattery to gain favor from an opponent
Striving to find a mutually beneficial solution

Pros and cons of the “Compromise” strategy

Despite the fact that compromise implies satisfaction of the interests of all subjects of conflict interaction, which, in fact, is fair, it is important to keep in mind that in most situations this strategy should be considered only as an intermediate stage in resolving the situation, preceding the search for the most optimal solution, completely satisfactory to the conflicting parties.

Cooperation

By choosing a cooperation strategy, the subject of the conflict is determined to resolve the conflict in such a way that it is beneficial to all participants. Moreover, here the position of the opponent or opponents is not simply taken into account, but there is also a desire to ensure that their demands are satisfied as much as possible, as well as one’s own.

Basic human actions with the “Cooperation” strategy

Gathering information about the opponent, the subject of the conflict and the conflict itself
Calculating the resources of all participants in the interaction in order to develop alternative proposals
Open discussion of the conflict, the desire to objectify it
Consideration of opponent's proposals

Pros and cons of the Collaboration strategy

Cooperation is focused mainly on understanding the opposing position, paying attention to the opponent’s point of view, and finding a solution that suits everyone. Thanks to this approach, mutual respect, understanding and trust can be achieved, which best contributes to the development of long-term, strong and stable relationships. Cooperation is most effective when the subject of the conflict is important to all parties. However, it is important to note that in some situations it can be very difficult to find a solution that suits everyone, especially if the opponent is not cooperative. In this case, the “Cooperation” strategy can only complicate the conflict and delay its resolution indefinitely.

These are the five main strategies for dealing with conflict. As a rule, they are usually used in confrontations with other people. And this is quite justified, because... their effectiveness is undeniable. But, at the same time, other equally effective strategies, such as suppression and negotiations, can be used to resolve conflicts.

What is conflict

The conflict itself reflects the inconsistency of the interests of two or more people: it is a difference of opinions that cannot be satisfied at the same time. When talking about interpersonal conflicts, we are often dealing with a clash between two egos, two universes with their own needs for recognition, and social attitudes. There is no generally accepted theory of conflicts that could unambiguously explain the nature of their occurrence. But many authors from the field of psychology often divide conflicts into several types.

Intrapersonal

Intrapersonal conflicts, as a rule, reflect a clash between different personal needs, motives, feelings, and values. This can be a role conflict when a person's different roles make conflicting demands on him. For example, being a good family man, a person should spend his evenings at home, as his role dictates, but his position as a manager may oblige him to stay late at work. A conflict arises when one role cannot be realized because another is being realized at the same time. How to resolve intrapersonal conflicts? Through reassessment of values, through greater awareness, through the desire for balance - to find time for both work and family.

Photo: Pexels.com

Interpersonal

The other most common type of conflict is interpersonal conflict. This type is not necessarily associated with the dissimilarity of the opponents’ characters. Quite often, the basis of such conflicts is the struggle for limited resources. Everyone believes that they are the ones who need the resources. It is important to remember that such a struggle for resources is not always objective.

Photo: Pexels.com

Between the individual and the group

A conflict between an individual and a group arises when the group establishes certain standards of behavior, and one of the participants breaks out and does not comply with them. It is such a deviation from accepted norms that leads to conflict between the individual and the group.

Intergroup

The clash of several groups with different interests leads to intergroup conflict, where the dispute is conducted at the level of interests of the whole group, the position of the team is defended, and not of each person individually.

Suppression

Suppression is used mainly if the subject of the conflict is not clear or if it has entered a destructive phase, i.e. has become a direct threat to the participants; and also when it is impossible to enter into an open conflict for any reason or when there is a risk of “falling face down in the mud”, losing authority, etc.

Basic human actions with the “Suppression” strategy

Targeted and consistent reduction in the number of opponents
Development and application of a system of norms and rules that can streamline relations between opponents
Creating and maintaining conditions that prevent or complicate conflict interaction between the parties

Pros and cons of the Suppression strategy

Effective suppression of conflict is possible if the essence of the conflict is not clear enough, because this will nullify the mutual attacks of opponents and protect them from senseless waste of their energy. Suppression can also be effective when continued conflict would cause serious harm to both sides. But when resorting to suppression, it is important to correctly calculate your strength, otherwise the situation may worsen and turn against you (if your opponent turns out to be stronger or has more resources). The issue of suppression should be approached by thinking through all the details.

Accommodation (concession)

Adaptation (concession) - the style of passive behavior is characterized by the tendency of the conflict participants to soften, smooth out the conflict situation, maintain or restore harmony in relationships through compliance, trust, and readiness for reconciliation. Unlike evasion, this style takes into account the interests of opponents to a greater extent and does not avoid joint actions with them. Typically, the device is given a solution in situations where:

the participant in the conflict is not very concerned about the problem that has arisen, does not consider it significant enough for himself and therefore shows a willingness to take into account the interests of the other party, yielding to it if he has a higher rank, or adapting to it if he is of a lower rank;
opponents demonstrate compliance and deliberately concede to each other in something, taking into account the fact that while losing little, they gain more, including good relationships, mutual consent, partnerships;
a deadlock situation is created, requiring a weakening of the intensity of passions, making some kind of sacrifice in order to maintain peace in relations and prevent confrontational actions, without, of course, sacrificing one’s principles, primarily moral ones;
there is a sincere desire of one of the conflicting parties to support the opponent, while feeling completely satisfied with his kindness;
competitive interaction between opponents is manifested, not aimed at fierce competition, but inevitably causing damage to the other side.

The adaptation is applicable to any type of conflict.
But this style of behavior is most suitable for conflicts of an organizational nature, in particular along the hierarchical vertical: subordinate - superior, subordinate - boss, etc. In such situations, it is extremely necessary to value the maintenance of mutual understanding, friendly disposition and an atmosphere of business cooperation, not to give room for heated polemics, expressions of anger, and especially threats, to be constantly ready to sacrifice one’s own preferences if they are capable of damaging the interests and rights of the opponent.

At the same time, this style is unacceptable in situations where the subjects of the conflict are gripped by feelings of resentment and irritation, do not want to respond to each other with friendly reciprocity, and their interests and goals cannot be smoothed out and agreed upon.

Negotiation

Negotiation is one of the most common conflict resolution strategies. With the help of negotiations, both micro-conflicts (in families, organizations) and macro-level conflicts are resolved, i.e. conflicts on a global and national scale.

Basic human actions with the “Negotiations” strategy

Focus on finding a mutually beneficial solution
Stopping any aggressive actions
Showing attention to your opponent's position
Carefully consider next steps
Using an intermediary

Pros and cons of the Negotiation strategy

The Negotiation strategy allows the warring parties to find a common language without incurring any losses. It is very effective because... neutralizes aggressive confrontation and smoothes out the situation, and also provides the parties with time to think about what is happening and search for new solutions. However, if negotiations suddenly drag on for some reason, this may be perceived by either party as avoiding the conflict or unwillingness to solve the problem, which may lead to even more aggressive offensive actions.

You should choose a strategy for behavior in a conflict as thoughtfully, consciously, and taking into account the specifics of the situation itself. A correctly chosen strategy will give maximum results, while an incorrectly chosen one, on the contrary, can only aggravate the situation. Therefore, once again carefully study this material and try to apply the acquired knowledge in practice even in small things, because by learning to resolve small conflicts, you will be able to effectively influence large ones. And remember that it is best to prevent the emergence of a conflict situation than to eliminate an already “raging flame.”

Peace to your home!

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
IBR Conflict Resolution Approach
Eldred's Power Strategy
Game theory: history and application
How to competently enter into conflict
Mintzberg's 5 Ps Strategy for Business Strategy
Porter's Five Forces in Business
Conflicts and strategies for dealing with them
Negotiation Matrix
Thomas Questionnaire for Behavior in Conflict
How to Deal with Conflicts of Interest

Key words:1Communication

Behavior strategies in conflict situations

To analyze behavior strategies and types of conflicts, let’s consider the series “Unprincipled” about the life and morals of Moscow residents. This series was released in October and was based on the stories of the writer Alexander Tsypkin.

Photo: Kinopoisk.ru

The main narrator of the series, played by Pavel Derevyanko, is an incorrigible rogue who often faces conflict situations due to lies. On the one hand, a lie for him is a way of communication that allows him to gently avoid sharp corners in his relationship with his wife and maintain his status as a family man, despite an endless string of affairs. On the other hand, it gives it lightness and charm, which make it attractive to the fairer sex. At the same time, the hero does not suffer from internal conflict, but we see a picture of an external conflict with others: when he has to surrender his territory to his opponent. In order to restore relations with your wife and lull vigilance, give unexpected and expensive gifts; in the case of inheritance, agree to a deal that is unfavorable for oneself.

Photo: Kinopoisk.ru

Slavik’s closest friend, Kostya, played by Maxim Vitorgan, is an example of a different model of behavior in conflict situations. In the family he adapts to his wife, at work he acts as a leader. And in his case, the role of henpecked is a conscious choice, which allows him to delegate household chores to his wife, and in the meantime, at work, build a career and reach new heights.

Photo: Kinopoisk.ru

Another hero worth paying attention to is Roman, played by Yuri Kolokolnikov. He appears in a very common image: wealthy, lonely and in an eternal search for “the one,” which is what his new employee, Vera, seems to him at some point. And it clearly expresses the internal conflict between the search for adventure and the desire to find some kind of constant comfort.

All these stories give us a valuable conclusion: each of us performs many social roles throughout our lives, therefore masks and costumes must be changed in accordance with the scenery.