Despite the ubiquity and importance of third-party intervention in conflict, surprisingly little experimental research has been conducted on the intervention process. Moreover, although this laboratory work is limited to a few dozen experiments, it is fraught with puzzling and apparently contradictory findings. The present article advances three explanatory strands, or generalizations, that wind through this experimental literature: (a) Third parties facilitate concession making without loss of face, thereby promoting more rapid and effective conflict resolution than would otherwise occur; (b) traditional third-party intervention techniques that are effective when conflict intensity is relatively low may prove to be ineffectual and even exacerbating when conflict intensity is high; (c) the parties to a conflict may view third-party intervention as an unwelcome and unwanted intrusion. To the extent that the disputants can resolve conflict of their own accord, they will.The history of third-party intervention is as old as the history of human conflict, which in turn is probably as old as the history of humankind itself. Conflict is a ubiquitous phenomenon, arising in virtually all aspects of social life. Indeed, the seeds of conflict are part of the very process of interdependence that binds people to one another, leading them to work together for common or disparate goals. Whenever conflict exists, impasses can occasionally arise. These impasses, in turn, may be resolved by the disputants themselves -through coercion, through unilateral with-Portions of this article were presented at the Uni-

Thirty pairs of primiparous parents, fifteen with sons and fifteen with daugh ters, were interviewed within the first 24 hours postpartum. Although male and female infants did not differ in birth length, weight, or Apgar scores, daughters were significantly more likely than sons to be described as little, beautiful, pretty, and cute, and as resembling their mothers. Fathers made more extreme and stereotyped rating judgments of their newborns than did mothers. Findings suggest that sex-typing and sex-role socialization have already begun at birth . As Schaffer 10 has observed, • the infant at birth is essentially an asocial, largely undifferentiated creature. It ap pears to be little more than a tiny ball of hair, fingers, toes, cries, gasps, and gurgles. However, while it may seem that "if you've seen one, you've seen them all," babies are not all alike-a fact that is of special importance to their parents, who want, and appear to need, to view their newborn child as a creature that is special. Hence, much of early parental interaction with the infant may be focused on a search for distinctive features. Once the fact that the baby is normal has been established, questions

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