Explain the demand-withdrawal conflict pattern from the social science approach. Answer:

This pattern occurs when one partner criticizes or tries to change the other partner, who responds by becoming defensive and then disengagingeither psychologically or physically. Communication scholars have conducted many studies that attempted to explain and predict how and why this pattern occurs. Whereas most of the research has focused on dyads composed of heterosexual romantic couples, the pattern seems to extend to many different relationships and contexts, and it seems that, as with Charee and Mateo, women are statistically more likely to be the demanders who request change from their male partners, whereas men are more likely than women to withdraw. This type of communication pattern (demand-withdrawal) is particularly problematic in close relationshipsit seems to go hand in hand with negative emotions and destructive tactics that can eventually lead to a cycle of increasingly negative and hostile conflicts.