Psychological Preconditions of Conflict Proneness of Personality and Mental Health: The Role of Self-Regulation, Emotional Intelligence and Mutual Understanding in The Context of Interpersonal Relations

Abstract

This study aims at the investigation of psychological preconditions of conflict proneness in personality and mental health, with a specific focus on the roles of self-regulation, emotional intelligence, and mutual understanding. The research was oriented towards the application of qualitative methodology, particularly the analysis of transcripts of interview sessions. The findings showed that psychological preconditions of conflict proneness exist in professional, educational, and personal settings. Self-regulation, mutual understanding, and emotional intelligence were found to be important qualities which help to avoid conflicts. They contribute to increased motivation for conflict-less communication and interaction, cooperation, flexibility, improvement of active listening and problem solving, increased patience, formation of stress management skills, constructive feedback, reflective thinking, and building resilience. The special attention was paid towards the development of special strategies aimed at overcoming conflict proneness. The research findings demonstrated that the strategies include formation of communication skills, development of emotional intelligence and conflict management skills, improvement of active listening, building of stress management, development of team building activities, definition of responsibilities, creation of supporting environment, organization of immediate feedback, establishment of open communication, promotion of respect, creation of rituals, and encouragement of empathy. The outcomes can be used for the development of curriculum on the formation of conflict resolution skills.