Confrontation

A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cultures, or between living things other than humans.

It has been noted that the term confrontation has "a negative image, largely because people tend to confront others not about pleasant things but about painful, unpleasant things" and that it also "suffers from the stigma of being overly aggressive in both nature and intent".

In a more figurative sense, it may be more commonly used to indicate opposition, similar to some usages of the word face, such as "to confront/face the military might of France".

Because groups are composed of multiple individuals, with each member having their own specific triggers for a violent response to a perceived provocation, risk factors which "may not be sufficient individually to explain collective violence, in combination [can] create conditions that may precipitate aggressive confrontations between groups".

As Carlson and Slavik continue, this is for the purpose of revealing "new avenues for examination" and to "increase awareness".

As Jurgen Ruesch wrote, this incorporates an "element of aggression" in order to demonstrate "discrepancies between intent and effect, between word and action".