It's called triangulation and you may not realize you're doing it. ... Example #1. Parents who involve their kids in their issues, hoping that the child can help them smooth things over.

Triangulation also prevents others from aligning against them. If you’re competing for the favorite role, you’re not working together to stand up to them. How to respond ...

Example: 12-year-old Sara has two friends, Betty and Lindsey. Sara is the more dominant member of the threesome. She gets along well with both of them when they play one-on-one.

This Essay integrates Professor Claire Jean Kim’s racial triangulation framework, Professor Derrick Bell’s interest-convergence theory, and W.E.B. Du Bois’s notion of double-consciousness ...