Intrapersonal Conflict

Intrapersonal conflict:

Intrapersonal conflicts are those conflicts that are formed within an individual. More specifically, there are three major types of intrapersonal conflict that can be faced by an individual. These are conflicts due to frustration and not being able to meet one’s goal, goal conflict and role conflicts.

1. Frustration occurs when an individual faces a barrier between hi drive and desired goal. When qualified, unemployed youth fails to get a suitable job, he faces this kind of intrapersonal conflict. The frustrated individual may take any of the following courses of action:

a) he may try to overcome the barrier (looking harder for the job, sitting for the competitive examination to get the job, etc)

b) he may look for an alternative goal (starting his own business)

c) he may resort to certain ego defense mechanism (denying his need for a job perhaps)

2. Goal conflicts takes place when an individual faces a goal with both positive and negative features of two or more competing goals. Three specific type of goal conflict are usually found:

a) Approach-Approach conflict occurs when an individual faces two goals that are both attractive to him. Say, the unemployed youth we were talking about is now getting two job offers at the same time and both the jobs are quite lucrative. Now what will happen to him? He will again be a victim of frustration, distraught between two attractive options.

b) Approach-Avoidance conflict occurs when an individual is facing a goal that has both positive and negative qualities. For example, the same youth getting a job in a faraway place will face this kind of conflict. Though he is getting a job he was looking for (positive quality), it is so far from his home (negative quality), he just does not want to go.

c) Avoidance-Avoidance conflict takes place when an individual is motivated to avoid two or more negative goals. Usually this type of conflict can be easily resolved if the...