Maintaining conflict

Last month I wrote about the problem that occurs when dialogue doesn't match actions. I think the problem comes in extending conflict. Conflict is interesting. But it can be hard thinking of a good reason to keep the conflict going. It therefore makes sense why chase scenes are popular. They work because they extend conflict. What doesn't work is when you say, "leave me alone" and then you just stand there waiting to be accosted (unless that is part of the character, of course.) An old dramatic adage says that in a scene, each person needs to want something. But it might be just as reasonable to say that in a scene, there ought to be conflict, logically extended.