Identity conflicts threaten people's basic needs and very survival. These issues tend to be more abstract, ambiguous and intangible. Identity conflicts may be expressed as material disputes, in an attempt to give focus to the parties' concerns. Material disputes may evolve into identity conflicts, as the disputants invest themselves in the dispute and come to identify with their positions. Once a conflict has been correctly analyzed, the next step toward resolution is to make explicit the sources of identity threat and insecurity, and the parties' needs.
Resolution proceeds by having the parties dialogue about their needs and values.
Rothman argues that such dialog can promote the empowerment and recognition needed to transform the conflict into a more productive relationship. Though Rothman describes the four stages in progression, he cautions that the ARIA process is dynamic. The dialog may loop back to earlier phases of discussion. The action phase may lead cyclically back to antagonism. Rothman calls the first phase the antagonism phase.