An attempt is made to add conceptual strength to the conflict approach toward the study of family process. The concepts developed aim to provide analytical access to the nature of the family negotiating process. The focus thus is on the conceptions of bonding, aggression, appeasement, and threat. In addition the extramarital nature of familial and marital conflict management is discussed. Throughout the argument, findings from the field of ethology are used, heuristically, to aid in the attempts at problem formulation.