Self-Related Beliefs
Researchers who study self-related beliefs and conflict assume that confrontation is determined by a person’s beliefs about himself or herself. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory assumes that to engage in an action, one must be confident that one can perform it, which is referred to as self-efficacy.
Research indicates that self-efficacy is negatively related to withholding relational complaints (Makoul & Roloff, 1998) and positively related to being verbally assertive (Vera, Shin, Montgomery, Mildner, & Speight, 2004).Conflict actions may also be related to selfdetermination. Knee, Lonsbary, Canevello, and Patrick (2005) argue that individuals who have a need for autonomy believe that their relationships afford them personal benefits and they have freely chosen to remain in them, whereas those with a low need for autonomy believe that they receive no personal benefit from being in relationships and remain in them due to the expectations of others or guilt arising from terminating them. Holding autonomy beliefs is positively correlated with engaging in conflict behavior that facilitates understanding and negatively correlated with defensive reactions that enhances relational satisfaction. Also, a partner’s autonomy beliefs promote an individual’s use of understanding actions and reduce the likelihood of engaging in defensive ones.