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Cognitive
Everything is Neutral. Things Are Only Bad if You Think They’re Bad.
August 6, 2017
Many of us worry too much. It’s a natural instinct to plan, but dwelling on all the possible bad outcomes isn’t going to help the situation. Lawyers are trained to manage risks for clients. They’re supposed to look ahead and make sure there are as many Plan B’s as possible for their clients so if things don’t go their way perhaps the situation can be salvaged through an alternate route. But we can’t let this be the default setting for our worldview. If you have a flight to catch there...
August 6, 2017
Many of us worry too much. It’s a natural instinct to plan, but dwelling on all the possible bad outcomes isn’t going to help the situation. Lawyers are trained to manage risks for clients. They’re supposed to look ahead and make sure there are as many Plan B’s as possible for their clients so if things don’t go their way perhaps the situation can be salvaged through an alternate route. But we can’t let this be the default setting for our worldview. If you have a flight to catch there...
Book Reviews: Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
August 3, 2017
The ability to work hard, is again, just part of the equation explaining outstanding achievements, there is more than enough...
August 3, 2017
The ability to work hard, is again, just part of the equation explaining outstanding achievements, there is more than enough...
People Have an Irrational Need to Complete ‘Sets’ of Things
July 31, 2017
New research reveals that people are irrationally but effectively motivated by the idea of completing a set, even if it means working harder or spending more money—with no additional reward other than the satisfaction of completion and the relief of avoiding an incomplete set. Imagine arriving at your boss’s summer BBQ and presenting her with five beers in a box designed to hold six. No matter that your favorite craft beer store permits you buy bottles one at a time. Chances are you’d still...
July 31, 2017
New research reveals that people are irrationally but effectively motivated by the idea of completing a set, even if it means working harder or spending more money—with no additional reward other than the satisfaction of completion and the relief of avoiding an incomplete set. Imagine arriving at your boss’s summer BBQ and presenting her with five beers in a box designed to hold six. No matter that your favorite craft beer store permits you buy bottles one at a time. Chances are you’d still...
Ten Best Practices for Mediators Derived from Neuroscience
July 21, 2017
Start mediations with a short caucus session with each party immediately before joint session (“Early Caucus”). To reduce stress, focus at the start of every mediation on: Building trust and rapport, Fostering a sense of control for parties, and Establishing an atmosphere of security and calm. Acknowledge and normalize stress as well as emotions. Give parties time (at least 30 minutes) to recover from strong emotions and stressful situations before engaging in decision-making...
July 21, 2017
Start mediations with a short caucus session with each party immediately before joint session (“Early Caucus”). To reduce stress, focus at the start of every mediation on: Building trust and rapport, Fostering a sense of control for parties, and Establishing an atmosphere of security and calm. Acknowledge and normalize stress as well as emotions. Give parties time (at least 30 minutes) to recover from strong emotions and stressful situations before engaging in decision-making...
Willingness-to-Pay and Willingness-to-Accept Are Probably Less Correlated Than You Think
July 19, 2017
Willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) a monetary amount for a lottery should be closely related. In data from an incentivized survey of a representative sample of 3,000 U.S. adults, we find that WTA and WTP for a lottery are, at best, weakly correlated. Across all respondents, the correlation is slightly negative. For the subgroups that we examine, the correlation is almost always small, typically statistically insignificant, and often negative. The exception is respondents who score...
July 19, 2017
Willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) a monetary amount for a lottery should be closely related. In data from an incentivized survey of a representative sample of 3,000 U.S. adults, we find that WTA and WTP for a lottery are, at best, weakly correlated. Across all respondents, the correlation is slightly negative. For the subgroups that we examine, the correlation is almost always small, typically statistically insignificant, and often negative. The exception is respondents who score...
The Psychology and Neurobiology of Mediation
July 19, 2017
Perhaps the most common problem in mediation is that people take the conflict personally and the outcome of the mediation...
July 19, 2017
Perhaps the most common problem in mediation is that people take the conflict personally and the outcome of the mediation...
Article on Psychological Factors in Estate Planning
July 17, 2017
John Guerin & L. Paul Hood Jr. recently published an Article entitled, Chapter 18: Psychological Factors in Estate...
July 17, 2017
John Guerin & L. Paul Hood Jr. recently published an Article entitled, Chapter 18: Psychological Factors in Estate...
Judging the Judiciary by the Numbers: Empirical Research on Judges
July 17, 2017
Do judges make decisions that are truly impartial? A wide range of experimental and field studies reveal that several extra-legal factors influence judicial decision making. Demographic characteristics of judges and litigants affect judges’ decisions. Judges also rely heavily on intuitive reasoning in deciding cases, making them vulnerable to the use of mental shortcuts that can lead to mistakes. Furthermore, judges sometimes rely on facts outside the record and rule more favorably towards litigants...
July 17, 2017
Do judges make decisions that are truly impartial? A wide range of experimental and field studies reveal that several extra-legal factors influence judicial decision making. Demographic characteristics of judges and litigants affect judges’ decisions. Judges also rely heavily on intuitive reasoning in deciding cases, making them vulnerable to the use of mental shortcuts that can lead to mistakes. Furthermore, judges sometimes rely on facts outside the record and rule more favorably towards litigants...
The Most Important Communication Skill You Will Ever Need
July 16, 2017
Everyone’s experienced those awkward social moments when there’s an overly long pause in the conversation or you’ve inadvertently interrupted the other person. These social gaffes can occur in face-to-face interactions, but are far more likely to happen when you’re on the phone with your conversation partner because you can’t read nonverbal signals of facial expression or body language. Even video chats can be punctuated with uncomfortable silences and the feeling that you’ve spoken...
July 16, 2017
Everyone’s experienced those awkward social moments when there’s an overly long pause in the conversation or you’ve inadvertently interrupted the other person. These social gaffes can occur in face-to-face interactions, but are far more likely to happen when you’re on the phone with your conversation partner because you can’t read nonverbal signals of facial expression or body language. Even video chats can be punctuated with uncomfortable silences and the feeling that you’ve spoken...
Conscious and Unconscious Thinking in Mediators
July 14, 2017
The mediation field now has more information in our push to unlock the black box of mediation. A recent study by James Wall and Kenneth Kressl examined the conscious and unconscious thought processes of ten civil case mediators. Their findings do more to confirm what many have long assumed, rather than provide new insights, but they are no less informative because of that. As they discuss in “Mediator Thinking in Civil Cases” (Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Spring 2017), the mediators focused...
July 14, 2017
The mediation field now has more information in our push to unlock the black box of mediation. A recent study by James Wall and Kenneth Kressl examined the conscious and unconscious thought processes of ten civil case mediators. Their findings do more to confirm what many have long assumed, rather than provide new insights, but they are no less informative because of that. As they discuss in “Mediator Thinking in Civil Cases” (Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Spring 2017), the mediators focused...
