Our browseable glossary of terms related to conflict resolution in education provides quick access to terms you may hear used in the field.

Another useful tool for understanding more general education-related terms is the ERIC thesaurus.

• Confidentiality

  Definition: The idea in mediation that what is said in mediation is not shared with anyone outside the mediation

• Confirmation

  Definition: you accept the right of the other person to define you, himself or herself, or the relationship

  Related term(s): respect

• Confirmation bias

  Definition: Once we have an impression of the other person, our tendency to keep seeing them that way, even if there is information to the contrary

• Conflict

  Definition: the expression of a disagreement between two or more interdependent people about what should be done and/or how it should be done

  Related term(s): Dispute, disagreement

• Conflict competence

  Definition: the ability to manage conflict positively and functionally

• Conflict escalation

  Definition: occurs when the feelings associated with the conflict become more hostile, when the behaviors used in conflict become more aggressive, when the positions taken in the conflict become more extreme, and when the willingness to adopt cooperative orientation to the conflict decreases

• Conflict resolution education

  Definition: teaching children how to manage conflict effectively and giving them life skills that will empower them to be happier, more successful citizens

  Related term(s): Peace education

• Conflict styles

  Definition: A tendency we have for how we deal with conflict - a general approach to conflict management

• Connection power

  Definition: Influence we get because of who we know

• Contact cultures

  Definition: cultures that use more touch and less personal space (e.g., Arab, Latin American, and Southern European nations) than do members of non-contact cultures

• Contact hypothesis

  Definition: predicts that making contact with stereotyped individuals and interacting with them over time will break down the stereotypes we have about them

• Contempt

  Definition: an emotion resulting from perceived superiority, often expressed as an insult

• Content

  Definition: the information we exchange and the understandings we achieve

  Related term(s): Data

• Content level

  Definition: gives the ",content", or basic data of the message, denotative meaning, what the words actually mean

• Control communication

  Definition: Defensive communication that directs or tells the other what to do

  Related term(s): Directive communication