Perceived Costs and Rewards
Every communicative behavior, including those used during times of conflict, has potential costs and rewards. According to co- cultural theory, individuals who are marginalized in terms of societal power (e.g., people of color in the United States) give consciousness to the consequences of behaviors prior to enactment (Orbe, 1998a).
Other scholars (Todd-Mancillas, 2000) have argued that the process of co-cultural communication applies to all persons, including those in the dominant group (e.g., European Americans). Research that examines the strategic selection of conflict strategies is important to advance existing research that primarily has relied on the assumption that culture and communicative behaviors during conflict are inextricably linked. A relevant line of research within this topical area is the identification of what, if any, correlations can be found between the perceived costs and rewards associated with different conflict strategies. In addition, scholars can explore the process by which different racial and ethnic group members negotiate these costs and rewards in different settings (see, e.g., social exchange theory research; Cox & Kramer, 1995; Welch-Cline, 1987).In addition to exploring the perceived costs and rewards associated with different conflict strategies, future research can also focus on the positive and negative outcomes of conflict episodes themselves. A significant amount of literature has concentrated on the sources of conflict and the ways in which divergent styles have exacerbated interracial and interethnic conflict. Yet equal attention needs to be paid to the positive effects of conflict, especially those that appear to be unlikely in the absence of conflict (Hammond et al.,
2003). For example, Hoffman (1990), in her research on Iranian immigrants in California, found that cultural conflicts between immigrants and U.S. Americans were seen as a significant source of learning. She concluded that “the dominant research orientation of the intercultural field, characterized by a concern with culture differences and culture conflict, has often obscured consideration for the dimensions of cultural learning that transcend the experience of conflict” (Hoffman, 1990, p. 275). Additional studies are needed that examine conflict within the context of intercultural learning.