Intervention in a cognitive conflict

Abstract

The cognitive conflict paradigm, developed within the framework of Social Judgment Theory, was used to determine effects of intervention in interpersonal conflict. Task predictability and the third party's knowledge of task characteristics were manipulated as independent variables. After being trained to have different policies, judges were brought together to work on a common set of judgment problems. During the conflict session, a third party (mediator) intervened to assist judges in making joint predictive judgments. Task predictability was found to have more effect on conflict reduction than did intervention. Overall, intervention did not appear to effect conflict reduction; however, mediator characteristics were significantly correlated with an objective measure of a mediator's relative usefulness. Results are discussed in terms of Social Judgment Theory, T. A. Kochan and T. Jick's (Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1978, 22, 209–240) model of mediation effectiveness, and I. D. Steiner's (Group processes and productivity, New York: Academic Press, 1972) analysis of group productivity.