Navigating Conflict in Marital Relationships: Lessons from Shallow Talks and Separate Spaces

Conflict Analysis in Shallow Talk and Separate Spaces Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Instructor’s Name Course Number Date Inevitable conflict will arise to some degree in every marriage. Various researchers have researched the topic of marital health, making it a debatable subject in today’s society. The case Shallow talks and separate spaces deals with a relational conflict between a married couple Russel and Sarah, who never seem to get along due to their busy schedules. Marriage couples may have different opinions and views and sometimes get overwhelmed by emotions hurting each other, which is very detrimental to a marriage. Conflict does not bring coherence but creates separation. Conflict resolution is an essential aspect of maintaining a stable marriage. According to (Delatorre &Wagner, 2019), stability is associated with avoider, volatile, and validator relationships, which represent different ways of balancing the positive and negative aspects of the marital relationship. Conflict varies from different interests and life perceptions, which is what happened to Sarah and Russel. This essay will analyze the case of Shallow Talks and Separate spaces harnessing the various conflict goals, deducing conflict management styles, and identifying the destructive conflict behaviors in a relationship. Avoiding conflict in a marriage is an incredible goal. However, conflict emanates from incompatible goals. The case Shallow Talks and Separate Spaces conveys the presence of prospective, retrospective, and transactive. We can define perspective goals in relation to Russel and Sarah in that they have a common goal to make a successful marriage through mutual responsibility and collaboration. Sarah was to continue his education while married, and Russel diversified in golfing. Their goals end up shuttered due to mutual conflict arising from their busy schedules. Transactive goals in the conflict emerge when there in communication exchanges. Russel and Sarah conflict by hurting each other’s feelings and saying demeaning words towards each other. Russel sarcastically attacks Sarah for inherently focusing on her master’s degree and neglecting marriage responsibilities. At the same time, Sarah joke about his credibility as a graduate purporting that he is not intelligent and has not achieved anything substantial in his education. The conflict arises from the pride, and high self-esteem each has on themselves; ego cannot allow them to settle down. The aftermath of these goals is destruction and flaws