Conflict is a natural and healthy part of our daily lives, so it can be very productive when we know how to have productive disagreements. In fact, you can argue that learning to have difficult and challenging, even confrontational conversations, with others is essential to a happy life.

However, it’s extremely difficult to keep conflicts from spinning out of control into arguments. Has getting into a heated argument with your significant other, a coworker, or a child ever solved anything? Probably not. Heated arguments often lead people down the dark path of personal attacks, animosity, and getting so riled up that they stop making sense altogether.

“If no one ever argues, you’re not likely to give up on old ways of doing things, let alone try new ones. Disagreement is the antidote to groupthink,” organizational psychologist Adam Grant said, according to Psychology Today. “We’re at our most imaginative when we’re out of sync.”

So the big question is, how do we prevent heated arguments from happening and steer them to more productive territory instead? Researchers have been on the case and may have a solution.

A group of scholars at the University of Minnesota found that it’s essential for people to create a safe environment for discussion, and the key to doing so is to ask open-ended questions that lead to points of agreement. Specifically, the researchers say to use “I” statements, such as “I feel frustrated” or “I feel........

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