Glossary of CRE-Related Terms
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.
- Emotions
- Definition: the feelings that motivate us to act in all facets of life
- Related term(s): feelings
- Empathy
- Definition: the ability to feel what someone else is feeling
- Related term(s): Emotional perspective taking
- Empathy communication
- Definition: Non-defensive communication that shows you can understand the other person's experience
- Endorsement
- Definition: confirming behavior that sends the message, ",The way you are feeling is okay,", or ",The way you are perceiving is okay.
- Equality communication
- Definition: Non-defensive communication that treats the other person as an equal
- Ethnocentrism
- Definition: the belief that one's culture is the center of everything and therefore superior to other cultures. Encourages people to apply the norms and standards of their own culture when judging other cultures: ",This is the way we do it, so this is the way everyone should do it.",
- Related term(s): Cultural arrogance
- Evaluation communication
- Definition: Defensive communication that judges the other
- Related term(s): Criticism
- Expertise power
- Definition: Influence we have because of a general area of expertise or knowledge we have, like computer programming
- Face
- Definition: Goffman's notion of the self we want to present in interaction
- Related term(s): Identity, self-presentation
- Face work
- Definition: ongoing, yet often implicit process of trying to present our ",face", in interactions
- Related term(s): Impression management, identity negotiation
- Facilitate emotional reappraisal
- Definition: a process of elicitive questions and conversation that enable people to change the way they experience a situation and, by doing so, change how they feel about it
- Related term(s): Emotional coping
- Facilitator
- Definition: A third party who focuses on re-establishing communication between disputing parties but who does not become involved in substantive issues
- Related term(s): conciliator
- Forgiveness
- Definition: no longer being upset with someone because of what he or she did
- Frame of reference
- Definition: our view of the world and the assumptions we make about reality as shaped by our prior experiences
- Related term(s): Point of view, perspective
- Functional conflict
- Definition: a conflict where both parties are pleased with the process and outcome of the conflict management
- Related term(s): Healthy conflict, constructive conflict