Conflict Interaction Research Articles

The politics of multi-level migration policymaking: a network-centred perspective

ABSTRACT This article develops and applies an innovative methodology based on social network analysis and cluster analysis to analyze the organization of policymaking relations in multi-level political systems, focusing on the migration policy field. In doing so, it addresses four limitations of existing research on multi-layered migration policymaking, which tends to focus on policy and legal documents rather than real-world interactions, conceptualize governmental levels in morphological terms, neglect conflictual interactions, and narrowly focus on big cities. This innovative approach is applied to the heuristic case of Italian asylum policy after the 2015 “refugee crisis”, which allows to derive three conceptual claims about the organizations of multi-level migration-related policymaking interactions. First, these interactions can be highly conflictual and multi-level migration policymaking should not necessarily be seen as a negotiated order among public and non-public actors. Second, existing typologies need to be complexified, accounting for the significance of intricately nested and overlapping “multi-level networks” emerging over and above multi-layered institutional structures. Third, showing that Italian asylum policy actors interact more frequently and collaboratively with “like-minded” actors regardless of official roles and governmental levels, the article identifies a new “political” or “ideological” axis along which collaborative and conflictual relations can be organized.

Resettlement, mental health, and coping: a mixed methods survey with recently resettled refugee parents in Canada

BackgroundResettlement experiences of refugee parents are under-researched despite evidence indicating higher risk of poor mental health. The current study integrates family systems and social determinants of refugee mental health frameworks to examine: (1) Refugee parents’ experiences of resettlement stressors and mental health; (2) Perceived impacts of resettlement stressors on individual and family indicators of well-being; and (3) Refugee parents’ coping strategies and resources.MethodsThe study draws on data from a mixed methods survey conducted with 40 Government-Assisted Refugee parents who had resettled to Hamilton, Canada within the past 4 years. Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed separately and then integrated at the results stage using a weaving approach.ResultsResults indicate significant exposure to economic and social stressors across multiple domains of daily life, as well as high levels of parental psychological distress. Parents drew linkages between resettlement stressors and negative mental health impacts that were compounded by intersecting risk factors of ill health, caregiving burden, single parenthood, and low levels of education and literacy. Most parents rated themselves as coping well or very well and described various coping strategies such as positive reframing, problem solving, planning, and turning to religion. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate high frequency of positive parent-child interaction and low frequency of family conflict, and highlight the importance of family as a protective resource for coping with adversity. Exploratory regression analyses suggest that longer stay in Canada, poorer self-rated health, higher levels of resettlement stressors, and more conflict between adults in the household may be associated with greater psychological distress.ConclusionStudy findings highlight both the resilience of refugee parents and the psychological toll of navigating their families through a new and challenging environment. Policies and programs to provide comprehensive social and economic supports to refugees beyond the first one to two years after arrival are necessary to mitigate the mental health impacts of displacement over time and strengthen individual and family resilience. Such programs should include culturally responsive and family-based models of mental health care that acknowledge collective experiences and impacts of adversity, as well as harness family resources to overcome past and present challenges.

Linking internalizing and externalizing problems to warmth and negativity in observed dyadic parent–offspring communication

AbstractObjectiveThis study examined the relative associations of mothers'/fathers' and offspring's internalizing and externalizing problems with parent‐to‐offspring and offspring‐to‐parent warmth and negativity.BackgroundPsychological conditions of family members may be related to intrafamilial social interactions. Particularly, internalizing and externalizing problems may affect the quality of parent–offspring communication.MethodIn this study, fathers (N = 94), mothers (N = 125) and their offspring (N = 224, age rangeoffspring = 7.5–65.5 years) from 137 nuclear families participated in a behavioral conflict interaction task during which expressed warmth and negativity were observed. Associations between parents' and offspring's psychological problems (of the past 6 months) and parent‐to‐offspring and offspring‐to‐parent communication were tested simultaneously using structural equation models separated for fathers and mothers. Based on prior findings in the study sample, our analyses were controlled for history of childhood abuse.ResultsOffspring's internalizing problems were related to less negativity toward their father, whereas offspring's externalizing problems were related to more negativity toward their father and to receiving less warmth from their mother. Father's externalizing problems were linked to more negativity toward offspring. No associations were found between maternal and paternal internalizing problems and dyadic parent–offspring interactions, nor for maternal externalizing problems.ConclusionFindings support that psychological conditions of one family member have an impact on their social interactions within the family.ImplicationsSupporting families with interventions to improve parent–offspring interactions and (early) treatment of externalizing problems is recommended.

Optimal Association Strategy of Multi-Gateway Wireless Sensor Networks Against Smart Jammers

The Internet of Things (IoT) immensely benefits from wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Unfortunately, WSNs, by virtue of being low-power, are vulnerable to physical jamming attacks. This letter focuses on WSNs with multiple gateways where potentially many sensors are under the attack of a smart jammer. The jammer can observe the communication links and selectively jam the transmission of some sensors such that the throughput of the WSN is minimized. The proposed defense method is to develop a gateway selection and sensors’ associations policy that is aware of the jammer’s existence. First, the conflict interaction between the WSN and the jammer is modeled as a Stackelberg game. Then the WSN’s strategy, leading to a Nash equilibrium, is derived which is both stable and optimal. The numerical results show that compared to existing alternative approaches, the proposed method, with only four gateways, can increase the throughput by more than 200% and saves around 30 dB in sensors’ power consumption.

LJUBAVNA MRŽNJA: PSIHODINAMIKA ODNOSA VISOKOKONFLIKTNIH PAROVA U RAZVODU

According to the object relations theory, romantic partners are chosen on the basis of similar, complementary emotional needs and that creates a promise on the conscious and unconscious level that all that was missing in the previous relationships of an individual would be repaired through this relationship. However, in any longer relationship the breach of expectations is inevitable (destruction of an idealized image of the partner), which leads to disappointment. The destiny of the relationship depends on the way in which partners will deal with the frustrating knowledge that their idealisations will not be realised, or the level of maturity of the relationship and each partner, which is a test that many do not pass. It is commonly known that divorce rates are higher than ever before, and some divorces become high-conflict relationships in which all emotions caused by the breakdown of the relationship swirl into one common aspect – parental functioning. This paper is focused on the couples who experience a difficult breakdown of their relationship – with a lot of anger, hostility, distrust, and sometimes with the incidents of verbal and/or physical abuse, accompanied by lengthy and distressing court proceedings. It is noticeable that the conflict has a role of redefining the dynamics of their new partnership relation, and at the same time it serves as a defense of a person who does not have to deal with and face with complex unpleasant emotions that are a part of every divorce. Unable to accept, analyse and tolerate the unpleasantness of the emotions brought by divorce, these couples often use defense mechanisms of splitting and projections. The usage of these mechanisms leads to the dynamics which is characterised by a cycle of harassment, retaliation and failed reparation attempts that in turn lead to further splitting and projection, often with the resulting outcome of a high-conflict divorce. Couples remain connected and locked in mutual patterns of conflict interactions, in a kind of a tango of loving hate in a manner which restricts their capacity to separate on emotional and daily practical level. After presenting two cases from practice that describe the outlined psychodynamic terms and the interactions of partners differently, practical implications which are possible in direct work with former partners will be presented.

A Game-Theory-Based Approach to Modeling Lane-Changing Interactions on Highway On-Ramps: Considering the Bounded Rationality of Drivers

In highway on-ramp sections, the conflictual interactions between a subject vehicle (merging vehicle) in the acceleration lane and a following vehicle (lagging vehicle) in the adjacent mainline can lead to traffic congestion, go–stop oscillations, and serious safety hazards. Human drivers combine their previous lane-changing experience and their perception of surrounding traffic conditions to decide whether to merge. However, the decisions that they make are not always optimal in specific traffic scenarios due to fuzzy perception and misjudgment. That is, they make lane-changing decisions in a bounded rational way. In this paper, a game-theory-based approach is used to model the interactive behavior of mandatory lane-changing in a highway on-ramp section. The model comprehensively considers vehicle interactions and the bounded rationality of drivers by modeling lane-changing behavior on on-ramps as a two-person non-zero-sum non-cooperative game with incomplete information. In addition, the Logit QRE is used to explain the bounded rationality of drivers. In order to estimate the parameters, a bi-level programming framework is built. Vehicle trajectory data from NGSIM and an unmanned aerial vehicle survey were used for model calibration and validation. The validation results were rigorously evaluated by using various performance indicators, such as the mean absolute error, root mean square error, detection rate, and false-alarm rate. It can be seen that the proposed game theory-based model was able to effectively predict merging and yielding interactions with a high degree of accuracy.

Challenging Interactions Between Patients With Severe Health Anxiety and the Healthcare System: A Qualitative Investigation.

Patients with severe health anxiety have complex interpersonal relationships with medical providers and others in their social context, often resulting in conflictual interactions with providers and perception of poor medical care. An adequate understanding of the causes and consequences of these interactions is lacking, particularly 1 informed by the experience of the patient. This study used qualitative methods to explore the development and maintenance of health anxiety from the perspective of patients with lived experience of coping with health anxiety and their interactions with the healthcare system. We conducted qualitative interviews with 11 primary care patients purposely sampled to describe their experience living with health anxiety, provider interactions, and social and family interactions surrounding health and health anxiety. We extracted themes related to living with health anxiety and interactions with providers and other significant relationships. Thematic content analysis revealed 5 themes including 3 causal themes, 1 response theme, and 1 theme reflecting factors that mitigate health anxiety. Causal themes included subthemes reflecting predisposing factors of the self, key stimulus events from patient learning history, and maladaptive social interaction factors. The response theme was comprised of 2 subthemes: logical conclusions and health anxiety symptoms. The mitigating factors theme included subthemes of a trusting care relationship and recognition of disconfirming evidence. The themes and constituent subthemes identified in this study largely map onto cognitive-behavioral theory of health anxiety, demonstrating alignment between patient experience and theory. The resulting model also identifies potential points of intervention in the developmental and maintenance process. We provide recommendations to maximize those points of intervention.

Limping relationships in international family law

The article examines a legal phenomenon that has not received a generalized legal characteristic, its research in international family law is fragmentary. The reasons for the “lame” relationships are analyzed: differences in conflict of laws regulation, incorrect application of conflict of laws rules, discrepancy between substantive regulations, conflict of jurisdictions; it is concluded that “lame” relationships are the result of the interaction of conflict of laws, substantive and procedural norms, leading to an undesirable legal effect. The author expresses doubts about the effectiveness of such a method of eliminating “lame” relationships as the convergence of legal systems, suggesting to pay attention to the competing traditional conflict tools and the opposite methodological approach — recognition, the potential of which is underestimated and insufficiently studied. Recognition is seen not as an alternative to conflict method, but as an additional way to overcome “lame” relationships. Replacement of national conflict of laws rules in cross-border family disputes is illustrated by the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union. Attention is drawn to the existing models of recognition in common law countries and continental legal tradition, the legal nature and place of the norms of Russian family legislation on recognition are analyzed. иThe mechanism of recognition of foreign administrative procedures and decisions, foreign documents in the Russian Federation is assessed. The author comes to the conclusion that implementation in domestic law of various approaches to the recognition of foreign court decisions, administrative procedures and documents issued by the competent authorities of foreign states, proposing to unify them within the framework of a uniform recognition procedure that excludes uncertainty and internal contradictions.

К проблеме подготовки психологов для работы в системе образования в условиях вызовов современного социума

It gives a detailed analysis of the activities of a teacher- psychologist in educational institutions from the standpoint of using problem-oriented and resource-oriented approaches, mastering new interdisciplinary and inclusive technologies, as well as skills to work in extreme situations and teaching children and teachers methods of confronting different types of aggressive behaviour. The article draws our attention to the problems of the psychologist's activity in educational organizations in the context of the «challenges» of modern society and their psychological consequences for the younger generation, such as: mobbing, bullying and cyberbullying among children and youth, conflicting, addictive and suicidal behaviour of children and adolescents, delinquency and aggressiveness, joking, cybercommunicative addiction and others. It is shown that mastering socio-psychological technologies by a teacher-psychologist that allow introducing flexible negotiation mechanisms that transform the space of conflict interaction and ensure the information and psychological safety of children and adults is necessary. The analysis of various aspects is presented training of psychologists and educational psychologists at the North Caucasus Federal University (NCFU), taking into account its focus on the practical needs of education, the principles of variability, flexibility and interdisciplinarity of training, continuity and completeness of education. The article shows the specifics of the training of students of the Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogy of NCFU which includes their activities in research centers, laboratories, professional sites and volunteer psychological teams to teach the population, including schoolchildren, first aid techniques in crisis situations.

The ethics of risk in Robert Nozick’s “Anarchy, the State, and Utopia”

The article is devoted to the analysis of the ethical concept of risk presented in the central work of R. Nozick “Anarchy, the State and Utopia” (1974) (chapter “Prohibition, compensation and risk” and prerequisites), one of the most influential representatives of modern Western political philosophy. Despite the fact that, along with the “A Theory of Justice” by J. Rawls, this work is the most important for the modern Western discourse on the moral foundations of politics, the concept of risk included in it as a necessary element has almost never been the subject of detailed consideration in the domestic research tradition. Referring to modern academic discussion, built around the idea of “risk society” by U. Beck and other risk theories, the authors correlate the key issues of equity in the production and consumption of risks, their distribution, conflict interaction of the parties to risk relations with the R. Nozick’s provisions. The article traces the path traversed by R. Nozick from posing the question of the necessity of the state as such to the moral foundations of prohibition, risk and compensation in a “state of nature”. It examines the possible reactions outlined by the philosopher to risky actions and the collisions of their moral justification. As a result of the analysis, the authors conclude that R. Nozick’s ethical concept of risk allows us to identify some key features, without answering to which it will be impossible to establish morally justified regulators of risk relations: 1) is a fair system of risk distribution possible in principle and compensation; 2) whether it is necessary to include risk reflection in the exchange package, that is, the fear experienced by potential victims of a risky action.

Psychometric properties of the Observing Mediational Interactions (OMI) coding system during mother-adolescent conflict discussions.

Observational assessments of parent-adolescent conflict can guide interventions to prevent and reduce conflict and mental health problems. The authors identified the Observing Mediational Interactions (OMI) as a particularly useful coding system for examining parent-adolescent conflict. The OMI is the observational measure used in the Mediational Intervention for Sensitizing Caregivers (MISC) and quantifies emotional (attachment-based) and cognitive (learning-based) behaviors during caregiver-child interactions. The overall aim of the current study was to tailor and evaluate the OMI specifically for observing conflict interactions. Conflict discussions between 56 clinical youth aged 10-15 years and their mothers were coded using the OMI. Reliability, construct validity, and associations with affect following the conflict discussion were examined. Analyses revealed that the OMI demonstrated adequate internal consistency, interrater reliability, and construct validity in terms of associations with an alternate observational measure and parent-reported family functioning and stress. Additionally, mothers who engaged in fewer negative parenting behaviors reported greater positive affect following the conflict discussion, controlling for baseline affect. Taken together, findings support the use of the OMI in future studies. While further research should attempt to extend findings to other populations and settings and elaborate the coding instructions as needed, researchers can use the OMI to inform ongoing adaptations of MISC and identify targets for prevention and intervention more broadly.

Strategies of Behavior in the Conflict of Students of the Technical School of Transport and Entrepreneurship with Different Group Roles

The article is devoted to the study of behavioral strategies in the conflict of students of the technical school of transport and entrepreneurship with different group roles. It has been determined that one of the leading problems of modern education is the lack of interest among students in the personality of another, the unwillingness and inability to experience his inner world, manifested in the emergence of conflict interaction between students of a technical school. The results of the study show that certain strategies can be a component of the active life position of the student's personality, awareness of one's social status and the role behavior associated with it as a form of realization of individual capabilities. The problem of effective ways of interpersonal interaction in a group of students of the technical school of transport and entrepreneurship is being solved.

Interactive associations between abstinence plans and romantic partner conflict and support with cigarette smoking

BackgroundWhile most individuals who smoke cigarettes desire to quit, quit motivation can change daily and sustained abstinence is rarely achieved in quit attempts. Assessment of psychosocial factors that moderate associations between daily abstinence intentions and smoking behavior is necessary to inform effective cessation efforts. MethodsA secondary analysis was conducted using data from a 28-day ecological momentary assessment study among individuals who smoke and who were not actively planning a long-term quit attempt (N = 81 individuals; N = 1585 days). We examined main effect and interaction associations between primary predictors (daily abstinence plans and within- and between-person estimates of perceived romantic relationship conflict and support) and daily number of cigarettes smoked, as well as baseline emotion regulation difficulties as a moderator of these associations. ResultsSmoking was reduced on days with an abstinence plan (β=−0.57,p<.001), especially among individuals with lower average levels of conflict (plan × between-person conflict interaction: β=0.98, p < .001), and higher average levels of support (plan × between-person support interaction: β=0.26, p < .001). Additionally, smoking was increased on days when participants had higher levels of conflict than usual (β=0.07, p < .01), but only on days when participants did not have a plan (plan × within-person conflict interaction:β=-0.10, p < .05). Emotion regulation difficulties did not moderate any associations. ConclusionThis study adds to the literature on the influence of negative aspects of social experience on smoking behavior. Further, the present study underlines the importance of assessing the influence of both positive and negative aspects of – and within- and between-person differences in – social experiences.

Motivation and empathic accuracy during conflict interactions in couples: it's complicated!

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11031-022-09982-x.

CONFLICTOGENICITY OF LEXICO-SEMANTIC FIELDS OF UKRAINIAN AND ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGY

The aim of the article is to outline the main lexico-semantic fields on the material of Ukrainian and English phraseology, which serve to indicate the various components of conflict interaction within the Ukrainian and English societies. The object of research is conflictogenic phraseology of Ukrainian and English languages, the subject is those phraseological units that describe verbal conflict, physical conflict, other types of conflict and the context of the conflict. For the analysis of the material, methods of continuous sampling (for selection from the relevant authoritative dictionaries of conflictogenic phraseology) and lexicosemantic fields (for selection and ideographic description of the main lexicosemantic fields of conflict on the material of Ukrainian and English phraseology) were used. As a result, the definition of conflictogenicity of the phraseological unit is given; the main lexico-semantic fields of conflictogenic Ukrainian- and English-language phraseology are singled out and described; conclusions are made about the peculiarities of the implementation of conflict in the material of Ukrainian/English phraseology. It can be stated that: 1) Ukrainian and English languages equally demonstrate strong potential for the creation, functioning and use of conflictogenic phraseological units, which confirms the symmetrical separation of Ukrainian and English-language phraseological lexico-semantic fields such as “Verbal Conflict”, “Physical Conflict”, “Hybrid Conflict”, “Conflict Context”); 2) despite certain common features and universal patterns in terms of phraseological representation of conflict semantics, we observe different, unique characteristic of only one of the analyzed different system languages. In the future, we plan to explore in more detail the selected lexico-semantic fields – dividing them into lexico-semantic groups, subgroups, be sure to also involve the contexts of use of phraseological units.

Positivity resonance in long-term married couples: Multimodal characteristics and consequences for health and longevity.

The Positivity Resonance Theory of coexperienced positive affect describes moments of interpersonal connection characterized by shared positive affect, caring nonverbal synchrony, and biological synchrony. The construct validity of positivity resonance and its longitudinal associations with health have not been tested. The current longitudinal study examined whether positivity resonance in conflict interactions between 154 married couples predicts health trajectories over 13 years and longevity over 30 years. We used couples' continuous ratings of affect during the interactions to capture coexperienced positive affect and continuous physiological responses to capture biological synchrony between spouses. Video recordings were behaviorally coded for coexpressed positive affect, synchronous nonverbal affiliation cues (SNAC), and behavioral indicators of positivity resonance (BIPR). To evaluate construct validity, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to test a latent factor of positivity resonance encompassing coexperienced positive affect, coexpressed positive affect, physiological linkage of interbeat heart intervals, SNAC, and BIPR. The model showed excellent fit. To evaluate associations with health and longevity, we used dyadic latent growth curve modeling and Cox proportional hazards modeling, respectively, and found that greater latent positivity resonance predicted less steep declines in health and increased longevity. Associations were robust when accounting for initial health symptoms, sociodemographic characteristics, health-related behaviors, and individually experienced positive affect. We repeated health and longevity analyses, replacing latent positivity resonance with BIPR, and found consistent results. Findings validate positivity resonance as a multimodal construct, support the utility of the BIPR measure, and provide initial evidence for the characterization of positivity resonance as a positive health behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Peculiarities of the influence of conflict culture and personal competence on the confrontational modus operandi in conflict relations

The article analyses the problems of the formation of conflict interactions and relationships caused by the influence of conflictological culture and competence of the individual, which in recent years has become a priority. The article is based on the methodology of an integrated approach and system analysis. The theoretical basis of the article was the publications of Russian and foreign researchers devoted to conflict-related issues. The research methods used were a review of theoretical works and empirical research, comparative analysis, expert assessments, normative and logical methods. The analysis of methods, mechanisms, tools and other aspects of effective conflict management was carried out. Based on the results generalisation, the main directions of influence of conflictological culture and personal competence on the confrontational mode of conflict relations have been formulated. The conflict consequences determination by personal components of the participants in the conflict interaction is considered separately. In conclusion, the conflict management matrix is presented.

Nurses’ coping with patients’ relatives: Attachment style, burnout, and intentions to leave nursing

Abstract Background Conflictual interactions with patients’ relatives are prevalent in the work of hospital nurses. These situations may increase burnout and result in intentions to leave the nursing profession and high rates of turnover. It is important to understand the coping mechanisms and behaviours that nurses employ in such conflicts, to help them develop more adequate strategies that could prevent these outcomes. This study aimed at revealing how nurses’ attachment styles colour their behavioural coping mechanisms when dealing with such interactions with patients’ relatives, and how they are related to burnout and intentions to leave the profession. Methods An online survey was completed by 140 hospital nurses that included three scenarios of typical conflicts with patients’ relatives. Each scenario was followed by questions that assess stress and inadequacy when handling such situations, and behaviours: problem-solving responses, emotional support seeking, avoidance, and escalating responses. The survey also included self-reports of attachment styles, burnout, and intentions to leave nursing. Data were analysed using SEM (Amos 23). Results The model shows an acceptable fit (χ2(24) = 39.33, p = .025; CFI = .963; RMSEA = .068). Higher anxious attachment was associated with higher stress and feelings of inadequacy in handling the situation, which in turn were associated with more emotional support seeking, avoidance, and escalating responses. Escalating responses were indirectly associated with intentions to leave the nursing profession via higher burnout. Higher avoidant attachment was associated with fewer problem-solving responses. Conclusions Evaluating nurses’ attachment style, cognitions, and behaviours in conflicts with patients’ relatives is imperative for understanding burnout and intentions to leave nursing. Nursing training should include simulations of conflictual interactions with patients’ relatives to help modify maladaptive coping. Key messages • Evaluating nurses’ attachment style, cognitions, and behaviours in conflicts with patients’ relatives is imperative for understanding burnout and intentions to leave nursing. • Training for nursing staff should consider nurses’ awareness of their attachment style to modify maladaptive cognitions and behaviours in conflicts with patients’ relatives.

PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF BULLYING

The article highlights the issue of bullying in an educational institution. The difference between bullying and a quarrel or conflict is revealed. The main manifestations of teenager's bullying in are analyzed, such as mocking, kicking, beating, pushing, cyberbullying, etc. The main causes of bullying in an educational institution are revealed. The psychological consequences of bullying for all participants of bullying were analyzed. These include physical injuries, fears, manifestations of anger, low self-esteem, a sense of one's own inferiority, defenselessness, loss of self-respect, lack of social values, tendency to loneliness, deviant behavior, formation of destructive and antisocial personality traits, deterioration of academic performance, etc. A study of the manifestation of different response styles in a conflict situation among teenagers is presented. It was determined that teenagers are characterized by the use of all five response styles in conflict. But the studied sample is characterized by the predominance of such response styles in conflict situations as Rivalry and Avoidance. Which speaks of the desire or to satisfy one's interests, regardless of the needs and desires of others. Or avoidance of conflict and reluctance to make efforts to realize one's interests. The least developed style of cooperation in a conflict situation, which indicates insufficient skills of mutual satisfaction of the needs of participants in conflict interaction.

Communicative Strategies and Tactics of Trolls-Aggressors in Computer-Mediated Communication during COVID-19 Pandemic

The article considers the aggressive communicative behaviour of a virtual linguistic personality provoking a communication conflict in the virtual space (a troll-aggressor). The data include comments retrieved from LiveJournal posts and Internet memes published during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the course of the analysis, the authors reveal the communicative roles, strategies and tactics of trolls-aggressors. The common strategy of the troll’s aggressive conflict interaction in the indicated time period is the strategy of hostility which is embodied in particular strategies (micro-strategies) of discrediting and attack. It is concluded that discrediting as a micro-strategy can be implemented via a false compliment, the tactic of taunt, the tactic of insult and the tactic of blaming. The micro-strategy of attack is implemented by means of threat and indignation. Particular attention is paid to the description of the markers of the above-listed tactics observed in trolls-aggressors’ communicative behaviour. Enumeration of the tactics used for provoking conflicts in virtual environment made it possible to concretize the typology of trolls-aggressors which has been revealed in the course of empiric data analysis. As a result, the authors present a scheme which reflects the types of trolls, belonging to the general type “troll-aggressor”, and the implemented communicative strategies and tactics within the framework of the common strategy of hostility.