Plenty of Conflict in Survivor

There is a lot of conflict in the show Survivor. Conflict is defined as the disagreement and disharmony that occurs in groups when members express differences. For example at the beginning of the episode, Drew wanted to negotiate with Jeff and trade the lost flint for the fishing gear. However, none of the tribe members agreed with this decision. They experienced substantive conflict because the tribe members disagreed about his decisions, ideas and actions. Jeff turned down Drew so the members were right for disagreeing.

Affective Conflict can happen when there are interpersonal disagreements and members conflicting core values and beliefs. For example, Jeremy is upset because Keith is telling the others that he has an idol. In Jeremy’s commentaries, he states that Keith could have just asked him directly instead of spreading the rumor and telling the others. That shows a conflict due to a different in core vales and beliefs. Jeremy thought Keith had his back but felt his values were different.

Affective conflict can also occur members do not feel appreciated. For example, Missy is feeling annoyed by Alec and she has to bite her tongue several times. When they were going to cook the rice, they made her go back down and rinse off the dish because Alec felt she was “half ass-ing it”. She is feeling unappreciated by the others.

Procedural Conflict is disagreement among group members about the method or process the group uses in attempt to accomplish a goal. For example, Drew decides to throw the challenge so his team is not safe for being voted off and so he can get ride of the ‘snakes’. The rest of his group members would probably disagree if they knew of the hidden method/strategy.

We also see a lot of competition conflict style. This type of style occurs when group members are more concerned with their own goals than with those of the group. For example, Drew throwing the challenge in order to achieve his own goal of ultimately becoming the survivor winner. He says, “I am a bad ass, manipulator of the game.” However, at the the end he gets voted off.

Survivor is full of conflict and only getting better!