Resolving Conflict in Interpersonal Relationships using Passive, Aggressive, and Assertive Listening Statements

Anger, an emotion that can emerge during conflict, directly impacts relationships (Björkqvist, 1997; Winer et al., 2024; Winer et al., 2023). One skill that has the potential to reduce anger in conflict is effective listening—as distinct from hearing, understood as a purely physiological, auditory process, because listening includes interpretation and feedback, such as spoken responses (Udo, 2023). Yet, minimal research has investigated the influence of listening response statements on relational outcomes. As such, the purpose of this research was to examine how six assertive, passive, and aggressive listening response statements affect relational outcomes. There were 975 university student participants in this mixed-methods study. Researchers utilized repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance to examine which of the six listening response statements produced the highest and lowest relational outcomes, such as a willingness to work together with a class partner after a conflict. The quantitative results indicated that assertive listening response statements led to the best relational outcomes. The qualitative findings also support the use of assertive listening to manage conflict in healthy ways. This research provides unique applications and conclusions for both researchers and practitioners.