Personality, Social Distance and Conflicts

How people relate to those they perceive as “different” plays a significant role in social cohesion and conflict. Recent research explores the relationship between personality functioning, social distance, and conflicts with groups perceived as other, offering insight into the psychological factors that shape prejudice and interpersonal tension.

Understanding Social Distance

Social distance describes how close or accepting individuals feel toward people outside their own social group. This can include differences in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, or other forms of diversity. Higher levels of social distance often reflect discomfort, avoidance, or negative attitudes toward others.

Researchers have long examined social distance as a key factor influencing social interaction, inclusion, and conflict. This study builds on that work by focusing on how internal personality characteristics contribute to these attitudes.

Personality and Conflict

The research shows that impairments in certain aspects of personality functioning — particularly self-direction and empathy — are associated with greater social distance. Individuals who struggle to understand others’ perspectives or regulate their own goals and behavior are more likely to distance themselves from those they perceive as different.

These personality factors also relate to how people experience conflict. Participants with lower levels of self-direction and empathy reported conflicts with others as more frequent and more subjectively important, especially when those conflicts involved minority or marginalized groups.

Key Insights

• Personality functioning influences how individuals perceive and relate to people outside their own group.
• Greater social distance often accompanies reduced empathy and self-direction.
• Conflicts with perceived “others” are shaped not only by social attitudes but also by internal psychological factors.
• Social distance and conflict can reinforce one another, but they do not always operate in the same way.

Why This Matters

By highlighting the link between personality traits and social attitudes, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of prejudice, exclusion, and conflict. It suggests that addressing social division requires more than changing external conditions — it also involves understanding the psychological mechanisms that influence how individuals perceive and engage with others.

These findings have implications for research, education, and broader discussions about social inclusion, tolerance, and conflict resolution.

For more details, see: Preiss, M., Heissler, R., Doubková, N., Sanders, E., & Jonáš, J. (2023). Personality, social distance, and conflicts: Personality functioning, empathy, and socioeconomic factors predicting social distancing and conflicts with minorities. Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics, 9(2), 108–130

https://doi.org/10.17356/ieejsp.v9i2.1053