Conflicts Review of Related Theories
14 believes, which is the basis of plot. There are two kinds of conflict, external and
internal conflict. External conflict refers to a struggle between the protagonist and an outside force, while internal conflict refers to struggle within the heart and mind of
the protagonist Redman 363. Redman suggests that we have to analyze the
character’s attitude toward the problem and the situation in the story so that the conflict between the characters will be clearly identified Redman viii. The problem
in the story is often followed by some actions of the characters. The characters’ reaction toward the problem will indicate that conflicts are happening. Conflicts are
resolved when the character succeeds or fails in defeating the opposing force. In Understanding Social Psychology Worchel and Cooper define conflicts
into interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts. Interpersonal conflict is a conflict between two or more persons Worchel and Cooper 462. While intrapersonal
conflict is a conflict experienced by an individual when she is making a choice between two or more alternatives Worchel and Cooper 458. Lewin and Miller
states that intrapersonal conflict can be classified into four types. They are approach- approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance, and double approach-
avoidance conflicts qtd. in Worchel and Cooper 461. The approach-approach conflict is the simplest type of intrapersonal conflict.
It happens when the individual is motivated to approach two positive goals but can attain only one. For example, a child has to choose between toys or candies. Both of
them are his favorite but he can only own one of them. The avoidance-avoidance conflict is a conflict which occurs when the
individual must choose between two equally unattractive goals. For example, a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15 worker who must decide to continue the job that he does not like or loose the income
to support his family. The approach-avoidance conflict is a conflict which involves only one goal
which has both attractive and unattractive qualities associa ted with it. The individual’s own desire to both obtain the goal and escape from it traps him in
conflict. For example, a boy who has been taught by his parents not to smoke, but his friends are smokers and they influence him to smoke, he experiences the conflict
whether to follow his friends or not. The double approach-avoidance conflict is a conflict which involves a person
in choosing between two goals, each of which has positive and negative aspects. For example, a college student has to choose whether to focus on the study or to have a
side-job while finishing the study. In this case, the first goal is focusing on the study. The positive aspect is she can finish the study in the college on time while the
negative aspect is by the time she finishes the study, she does not have any job experiences. The second goal is having a side-job while finishing the study. The
positive aspect is when she finishes the study in the college she has already got job experiences which can support herhis career later on. The negative aspect is she
might finish the study late since she has to divide the time to work and to study at the same time.
In this study, the main character mostly experiences approach-avoidance and double approach-avoidance conflicts since he always has one or two goals which
include both positive and negative aspects in it. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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