Sociocognitive Conflict Regulation: How to Make Sense of Diverging Ideas

Abstract

Sociocognitive conflict arises when people hold different views or ideas about the same object, and it has the potential to promote learning, cognitive development, and positive social relations. The promotion of these outcomes, however, depends on how the conflict is regulated and with what goals: Mastery goals predict epistemic conflict regulation and the elaboration of multiple ideas, performance-approach goals predict competitive conflict regulation and the promotion of one’s own ideas, and performance-avoidance goals predict protective conflict regulation and yielding to other people’s ideas. Conflict regulation thus determines the conditions under which confronting diverging ideas results in positive cognitive and relational outcomes.