ANALYSIS OF THE INTERPERSONAL CONFLICTS IN THE STUDENT ENVIRONMENT

Relevance of the article. All kinds of conflicts are often arisen among the students. They can occur both inside the university and outside it. Student conflicts are daunting and strike in their variety. Today the only sphere for students’ joint action is a communication that includes a demonstration and elicit of points of view, therefore the appearance of different conflicts. This determines the actual absence of an objective component of conflicts and the presence of a significant negative emotional attitude of opponents to each other.

It is important not only to study youth conflicts among students, but also to prevent the development of their negative forms, since such conflicts in the student environment interfere not only with interpersonal communication among group members, but also with effective educational activities.

Therefore, it is so necessary to study conflicts in the student environment. Our future will depend on how much the younger generation is awarded of the existing conflicts, on the ability to regulate various contradictions in society.

The conflict is:

• the clash of opposing goals, positions, opinions and views of opponents or subjects of interaction;
• an acute dispute leading to a struggle [1].

One of the important signs of youth is socio-psychological characteristics due to pubarty, unstable psyche, biological maturation, the predominance of emotions, affects over logic and reason. That is why emotional reactions often dominate rational decisions.

As the communication is the only sphere of joint activity in modern student groups, this determines the actual absence of an objective component of conflicts and the presence of a significant negative emotional attitude of opponents to each other.

The reasons of conflicts in student groups are usually personal antipathies, the difference of points of view on the content of group values, the state of high mental stress of group members. According to researchers, conflicts in the student environment are also associated with the educational process and personal reasons of a social and psychological nature.

The student collective goes through several stages before becoming a real team. [3]

1. Formation of the collective (the stage of initial cohesion). At this stage, the group becomes, first of all, the aim of the teacher's educational work, with the help of which an organizationally formed group turns into a collective, "such a socio-psychological community where the students' relationships are determined by the content of their joint activity, its goals, objectives, values. Thus, the organizer of the team here is a teacher. The first stage is considered completed when an asset has stood out and earned in the team, the students have rallied on the basis of a common goal, common activity and common organization." [2]
2. Increasing the influence of the asset. Working with an asset at this stage requires the teacher's close attention. The second stage is characterized by the stabilization of the collective structure. The collective already acts as an integral system in which the mechanisms of self-organization and self-regulation begin to operate. The current system of checks and balances can generate certain kinds of conflicts. At this stage, the formal leader of the group appears. However, as practice shows, team members are drawn and "follow" to a greater extent the informal leader. It is at this stage that the level of conflict in the group increases, as students begin to reveal themselves, come into conflict with each other.
3. The flourishing of the collective. At this stage, the team is an instrument of individual development of each of its members and is characterized by common experience and the same assessment of events. The development of the collective is not considered as a smooth process of transition from one stage to another. There are no clear boundaries between the stages — opportunities to move to the next stage are created within the previous one. Each subsequent stage does not replace the previous one, but is added to it, as it were. At the same time, such peculiar transitions are also accompanied by conflict situations, which can have both positive and negative consequences.

In order for the student group to become a cohesive team, it is necessary to teach students to come to a constructive resolution of conflict situations. To do this, it is necessary to study the specificity of conflicts in the student environment and to identify their causes.

To analyze interpersonal youth conflicts in the student environment, we conducted a study on the example of Belgorod State National Research University, 2016.

We selected 72 second-year students of the Institute of Management of different specialties. The question focused on the participation of informal leaders in conflicts and the attitude of the rest of the team members to such situations. The study included 3 levels:

• questionnaire to identify formal and informal leaders in the group;
• identification of conflict between informal leaders in one particular group;
• the influence of informal leaders’ identification on the course of conflict and conflict situations in the student group.

At the first stage, students were asked to answer general questions:

• Do you maintain friendly relations with all their classmates?
• Have you come into an open conflict with anyone from the group?

In order to find out whether the sophomore class president is the formal leader of the group, there was a question:

• Is your the sophomore class president an authority for you?

The responses of the respondents are presented in table 1.

Table 1.

The identification of the authority of the sophomore class president among classmates.

Thus, for 72% of the surveyed students, the sophomore class president is not the leader in the group. He initially holds a formal position, but students do not listen to his opinion, therefore, he is not a formal leader for students.

For this reason, we then interviewed the informal leaders of the group. As a group for the survey, we selected a second-year group of the specialty «Organization of work with youth». There were 18 people.

In order to identify informal leaders in the group, students were asked to name three classmates whom they consider as leaders. As a result of the survey, three students of this group were named informal leaders.

The first informal leader received 17 votes, the second one received 12 votes and the third one received 10 votes.

Also, at the second stage of the survey, we tried to determine whether any of the informal leaders is a conflicted person. To do this, we used the Knobloch-Falconet methodology, which allows us to identify the level of students' conflict.

We found out that:

1. The first leader is a man with a certain finesse. He does not like conflicts. He knows how to smooth them out, easily avoid critical situations. When it is necessary to enter into a dispute, he takes into account how this may affect the official position or friendly relations. Strives to be good for others when they need help, can gladly provide it.
2. The second most popular informal leader is not a conflicted person. She insistently and argumentatively defends her opinion, but she will never cross the line, entering into an open conflict with the interlocutor.
3. The third most popular informal leader also cannot be called a conflicted personality. He will challenge and defend his point of view, regardless of the fact that this may negatively affect personal relationships. However, it will never move to an open conflict.

At the third stage of the survey, we interviewed students who are not group leaders in order to identify the importance of informal leaders in conflict situations in the student group. There were 14 of them.

Firstly, we asked the students if they listen to the opinion of informal leaders in order not to get into conflicts.

The respondents' responses are presented in table 2.

Table 2.

The identification of the number of students who listen to the opinion of informal leaders

Thus, 58% of students listen to the opinion of informal leaders in order not to come into conflict with them.

Next, we tried to find out if they support a person who has entered into a conflict, who always clearly expresses his opinion and whose opinion is authoritative for them. The respondents' responses are presented in table 3.

Table 3.

The identification of the number of students for whom there is a person in the group who always clearly expresses his opinion and whom they are ready to support if he comes into conflict.

Thus, 72% of students listen to the opinion of leaders and are ready to support them in a conflict situation.

After that, we asked if the students are able to enter into an open conflict with a person who would be supported by the whole group. The respondents' responses are presented in table 4.

Table 4.

The identification of the number of students who are ready to come into conflict with a person who is supported by the whole group

Thus, 79% of students, due to one situation or another, do not risk entering into an open conflict with the leaders of the group, in case not to stay alone.

By analyzing the obtained data, the following results are:

• ordinary students are oriented towards informal leaders and willingly accept their position in conflict situations;
• the most of the students, due to one situation or another, do not risk entering into an open conflict with the leaders in the group, in case not to stay alone;
• the most of the students listen to the opinion of informal leaders in order not to come into conflict with them;
• the sophomore class president is not its leader;
• as the causes of conflicts, students identified: the discrepancy of opinions and interests, the struggle for leadership, personal antipathies, stress, which is one of the main catalysts of conflicts.

From the conducted research, we can conclude that it is necessary for competent people to work with students in order to reduce the risk of conflict situations. Teaching students the most effective methods of conflict management can help to behave rationally in conflict and reduce conflict in the student team.

In order to deal with conflicts and prevent their occurrence, students can use the following methods:

1. Modeling. This method involves demonstrating examples of adequate behavior toward the conflicting personalities. After showing different behaviors that lead to the achievement of the intended goal, students often experience an improvement in their own behavior.
2. Role-playing games. This method allows you to use the game to prevent conflict situations, to get out of the conflict with the least consequences.
3. Establishing feedback. During this stage of social skills training feedback is established with young people in the form of reactions to their behavior. Students are encouraged or even rewarded for desirable and adequate social behavior. On the contrary, there is no positive reinforcement if students turn to previous, unacceptable behaviors.

The described methods are often practiced in groups consisting of 6-12 people. The members of these groups are carefully selected, so the students do not differ too much in the degree of conflict. Such groups usually works 2-3 times a week for 1-2 hours. The training continues until all members of the group achieve noticeable success in mastering the social skills necessary for a large number of situations – from interpersonal communication to the ability to respond normally to rejection and cope with stress and, as a result, prevent the potential threat of conflict in a given situation.

References:

1. Мануйлов Г.М. Социально-психологическая диагностика развития личности и малых групп. М., 2014. С. 76-77.
2. Подласый И.П. Педагогика: 100 вопросов - 100 ответов: учеб. пособие для вузов// М.: ВЛАДОС-пресс, 2004. - 304 с.
3. Тишина Т.М. Профилактика внутригрупповых конфликтов в студенческой среде // Исследования в области прикладной психологии. 2016. № 2. С. 41-45.