The Formal Theory’s premise is that emotions are energetic entities and that the unconscious is an innate physiological mechanism that reduces conflict as unpleasant psychic energy, transforming it into resolutions, moral growth. Resolutions are clinically manifested as relief in the form of attitude change and social adjustment. Identifying the energetic structure of the unconscious allowed us to introduce two scientific phenomena into the study of the conflict resolution process:
The six-emotion chain reaction corresponds to three pendulum oscillations.
The four alternative types of conflict resolution correspond to three formal equilibria operations which restore balance to the trays of a scale.
The two scientific phenomena account for the function of the unconscious in resolving conflicts. The first phenomenon, the SHM, captures conflictual energy and the second, the formal operations of the scale, transforms it into moral order.
The conflict resolution sequence begins with a conflict defined formally as a state of passivity, antagonism and alienation. The sequence ends with a resolution defined as mastery, cooperation and mutual respect. The mind is like the chlorophyll of plants which captures solar energy and transforms it into growth. Likewise, the unconscious resolves conflict, turning conflictual stress into moral growth by performing catharsis or psychosynthesis.
The SHM, the first scientific phenomenon of the Unconscious
The first phenomenon is the Simple Harmonic Motion. Conflicts capture energy as a pendulum deviation from the point of rest. We observe a six-emotion dialectic corresponding to three pendulum oscillations. The assessment exercises identify the six emotions and reconstruct the three oscillations of the emotional dialectic. The report organizes the creativity exercises along the six-emotion dialectic. We call it a syndrome, which means the emotions are connected like a chain reaction, leading to conflict resolution.
The 2nd scientific phenomenon of the unconscious: The equilibrial scale’s three formal operations, restoring the rest state.
Three formal operations of the equilibrial scale restore the balance to the trays. These three operations: reciprocity, negation and correlation, restore emotional and social balance upset by a conflict through the changing of a person’s attitude. Reciprocity affects one’s choice of power from passivity to activity. Negation affects one’s attitude, changing antagonism to cooperation. Correlation changes the intensity of conflict from alienation to mutual respect. The first two operations lead to four alternative conflict resolutions: choices of power as dominance versus submission, modified by the choices in attitude as cooperation versus antagonism. The four modalities constitute a personality typology; they represent wellness diagnoses. It is essential to know your personality type as it clarifies your relational choices.
Using two instruments, the self-assessment identifies one’s way of resolving conflict. First, it uses a personality inventory to identify a person’s relational modality, a personality type, as one of four types of conflict resolution. Second, combining a set of creativity exercises, it identifies one’s emotional syndrome, the six-emotion chain reaction: stress, response, anxiety, defense, reversal and compromise.