Confrontation is an element of

conflict Conflict may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Conflict'' (1921 film), an American silent film directed by Stuart Paton * ''Conflict'' (1936 film), an American boxing film starring John Wayne * ''Conflict'' (1937 film) ...

wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cultures, or between living things other than humans. Metaphorically, a clash of forces of nature, or between one person and his own causes of internal turmoil, might be described as a confrontation. It has been noted that the term confrontation has "a negative image, largely because people tend to confront others not about pleasant things but about painful, unpleasant things" and that it also "suffers from the stigma of being overly aggressive in both nature and intent". An examination of a hypothetical confrontation is the basis of

confrontation analysis Confrontation analysis (also known as dilemma analysis) is an operational analysis technique used to structure, understand and think through multi-party interactions such as negotiations. It is the underpinning mathematical basis of drama theory. ...

(also known as dilemma analysis), an

operational analysis Operations research ( en-GB, operational research) (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve decis ...

technique used to structure, understand and think through multi-party interactions such as negotiations. It is the underpinning mathematical basis of

drama theory {{Use dmy dates, date=July 2021 Drama theory is one of the problem structuring methods in operations research. It is based on game theory and adapts the use of games to complex organisational situations, accounting for emotional responses that ca ...

Origin and meaning

The word ''confrontation'' from its

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

''to confront'', comes from the

Middle French Middle French (french: moyen français) is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the 14th to the 16th century. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from ...

''confronter'' and

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functione ...

''confrontare'', meaning ''to border'' or ''to bound''. These in turn are formed from a combination of ''con'', meaning ''with'' or ''together'', and ''frons'' or ''front'', meaning

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

or forehead. Together, they carry a contemporary usage meaning ''to set against each other'' or ''to bring face-to-face'' and are similar in meaning to the contemporary usage of the word ''

''. It can be employed, in the most literal sense, to indicate adjacency, such as one parcel of land to another. In a more figurative sense, it may be more commonly used to indicate opposition, similar to some usages of the word ''face'', such as "to confront/face the military might of France". This may be used to indicated both physical opposition, as well as opposition to objects or ideas, such as would be the case in "confronting the evidence" or "confronting the truth".

Confrontation between groups

Confrontation may occur between individuals, or between larger groups. Because groups are composed of multiple individuals, with each member having their own specific triggers for a violent response to a perceived provocation, risk factors which "may not be sufficient individually to explain collective violence, in combination ancreate conditions that may precipitate aggressive confrontations between groups". Thus provocation of a single member of one group by a single member of the other group can lead to a confrontation between the groups as a whole.

Responses to confrontation

A person who is confronted may respond in a number of ways, including accepting or denying points with which they have been confronted, becoming belligerent, or seeking to avoid the confrontation altogether. It has been observed that " ny people seem to dislike confrontations while an equal number seem to relish them". Confrontation, as a means of addressing a dispute, is the opposite of

conflict avoidance Conflict avoidance is a person's method of reacting to conflict, which attempts to avoid directly confronting the issue at hand. Methods of doing this can include changing the subject, putting off a discussion until later, or simply not bringing up ...

. It has also been noted that "

and confrontation often occur together", and

conflict resolution Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information abo ...

methods may dissipate the cause behind the confrontation. Where a person or entity initiating a confrontation is belligerent or overly emotional, the confronted person or entity may seek to withdraw from the situation by asserting that they will be unable to communicate rationally with the initiator until the initiator changes their approach.

Psychology and therapy

George Devereux Georges Devereux (born György Dobó; 13 September 1908 – 28 May 1985) was a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, often considered the founder of ethnopsychiatry.

was among the first to explore the therapeutic function of confrontation as it relates to

psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...

. He described it as a form of "induc ngor forc ngthe patient to pay attention to something he has just said or done." As Carlson and Slavik continue, this is for the purpose of revealing "new avenues for examination" and to "increase awareness". Devereux saw confrontation as a therapeutic application of "calling a spade a spade" by restating information already provided. As

Jurgen Ruesch Jurgen Ruesch (born Jürgen Rüsch; November 9, 1909 – July 8, 1995) was an American psychiatrist. Life Jurgen Ruesch was born in Naples, Italy, to Swiss parents. He studied at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and moved to San Francisco i ...

wrote, this incorporates an "element of aggression" in order to demonstrate "discrepancies between intent and effect, between word and action". This may be especially useful in cases when the patient is being deceptive, pretend to be ignorant, or is oblivious to their own inconsistencies. In psychotherapy, a therapist may deliberately engage in a confrontation with the patient to assist the patient in dealing with an issue that the patient has avoided discussing. Such a confrontation is not necessarily loud, abrasive, or argumentative, nor does it necessarily require antipathy between the parties. A person can confront another quietly, and as an act of friendship.Dave Mearns, ''Developing Person-Centred Counselling'' (2002), p. 93. At the extreme, attack therapy (sometimes known as confrontation therapy) involves highly confrontational interaction between the patient and a therapist, or between the patient and fellow patients during group therapy, in which the patient may be verbally abused, denounced, or humiliated by the therapist or other members of the group. A 1990 report by the Institute of Medicine on methods for treating alcohol problems suggested that the

self-image Self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to an objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, etc.), but also items that h ...

of individuals should be assessed before they were assigned to undergo attack therapy; there was evidence that persons with a positive self-image may profit from the therapy, while people with a negative self-image would not profit, or might indeed be harmed.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Wiktionary inline, confrontation Interpersonal relationships Social concepts