The ball field shooting of Congressional leaders in Alexandria, Virginia on June 14 marked another act of extreme violence that shocked the nation.

The attack is far from the first, and most likely far from the last, but extreme violence is hard to understand for most people. It begs the question of what could have pushed a person so far as to hurt and kill.

  • Strategies available to manage conflict
  • Exposure to differences can help with listening, understanding
  • Social media can add to conflict by actually decreasing human interaction

“Conflict is inevitable, but there is a lot we can do to manage it effectively,” said Jennifer Sandoval, Ph.D., an associate professor for the University of Central Florida and an expert in dispute resolution.

“Where simply by being exposed to difference, we become better at understanding and better at listening,” said Sandoval. “It’s really difficult, because sometimes we just become siloed with a lot of similar perspectives to our own, and that is more comfortable.”

Truly listening, however, is something she said people often fail to do.

“We aren’t trained in listening," said Sandoval. "We get a lot of education in speaking in the United States in writing and trying to give our perspective, but we don’t actually get training in hearing one another, in listening, and engaging in dialogue."

The shooter in the Alexandria incident, James Hodgkinson, was reportedly also active on social media. His Facebook pages' were filled with anti-republican and anti-Trump posts.

Sandoval believes social media can also add to conflict, because human interaction is lost.

“It does allow us to dehumanize a little bit,” said Sandoval.

Sandoval said through study, conflict is best addressed in person. But when doing so, a person’s emotion should not be dismissed.

“We think it’s important to not take emotion out of dealing with conflict,” said Sandoval. “Because when we try to say that 'it is just business' or 'not personal,' it does again remove some of the human aspect, and the fact that you are engaging with other people.”

Early signs, called micro-aggressions, are very important to notice and not ignore. A micro-aggression can be a sexist, racist, or homophobic comment for example.

“Conflict is inevitable, and it’s not inherently negative, because sometimes when we focus on the more extreme manifestations of conflict we start to fear it, and see it as a threat to productivity in the workplace, threat to relationships, and it does always have that possibility," said Sandoval. "There is always risk associated with conflict, but there is also a lot of opportunity to learn, to grow, to connect with people.”

“We really do think that peace is not the absence of conflict," she continued. "It is the presence of dialogue and justice in the face of conflict and disagreement.”

Any sign of aggression or dangerous behavior should always be reported to police.