Audra and alfonso argue and alfonso storms out of the house. audra calls alfonso asking for forgiveness. he returns and they reconcile. soon they fight again with alfonso once again leaving. this is an example of a(n)

I believe the answer is:  conflict ritual

Conflict ritual refers to a situation when a same conflict occurs repetitively as if it's in  a cycle. Psychologists believed that the main reason for conflict ritual to happen is due to the inability between both parties involved to resolve the roots of their problem and chose to postpone the conflict rather than confronting the roots.