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Cognitive
Why Dressing for Success Leads to (Negotiating) Success
April 21, 2016
New research shows that when workers wear nicer clothes, they achieve more A number of recent studies suggest that dressing up for work in a suit or blazer could do wonders for an employee’s productivity, whether going into a negotiation, making a sales call or even participating in a videoconference with business associates. Using a number of measures, including simulated business meetings at which subjects wore formal and more casual clothing, the studies offer indications that wearing...
April 21, 2016
New research shows that when workers wear nicer clothes, they achieve more A number of recent studies suggest that dressing up for work in a suit or blazer could do wonders for an employee’s productivity, whether going into a negotiation, making a sales call or even participating in a videoconference with business associates. Using a number of measures, including simulated business meetings at which subjects wore formal and more casual clothing, the studies offer indications that wearing...
Principles and Optimism / Realism and Compromise
April 19, 2016
As a mediator, I have often had a party tell me that she will not settle on the terms proffered because, “It is all about principle!” I take this with a grain or two of salt because I have learned that if the other party becomes sufficiently generous in the offer, the “principled” party will accept the generous terms and settle. In his book, The Conflict Paradox (ABA and Jossey-Bass 2015), Bernard Mayer discusses the paradoxes of Principle and Compromise (Id. at 131-166) and Optimism and Realism....
April 19, 2016
As a mediator, I have often had a party tell me that she will not settle on the terms proffered because, “It is all about principle!” I take this with a grain or two of salt because I have learned that if the other party becomes sufficiently generous in the offer, the “principled” party will accept the generous terms and settle. In his book, The Conflict Paradox (ABA and Jossey-Bass 2015), Bernard Mayer discusses the paradoxes of Principle and Compromise (Id. at 131-166) and Optimism and Realism....
Deep Learning for Robots: Learning from Large-Scale Interaction
April 17, 2016
While we’ve recently seen great strides in robotic capability, the gap between human and robot motor skills remains vast. Machines still have a very long way to go to match human proficiency even at basic sensorimotor skills like grasping. However, by linking learning with continuous feedback and control, we might begin to bridge that gap, and in so doing make it possible for robots to intelligently and reliably handle the complexities of the real world. Consider for example this robot from...
April 17, 2016
While we’ve recently seen great strides in robotic capability, the gap between human and robot motor skills remains vast. Machines still have a very long way to go to match human proficiency even at basic sensorimotor skills like grasping. However, by linking learning with continuous feedback and control, we might begin to bridge that gap, and in so doing make it possible for robots to intelligently and reliably handle the complexities of the real world. Consider for example this robot from...
Science Explains Why Even The Best Athletes Mess Up
April 14, 2016
How does Steph Curry, the NBA’s most dominant point guard, still miss a three-pointer? A recent study in the journal NEURON may shed some light on how individuals make errors even after thousands of reps. A study by Duke University neurobiologist Stephen Lisberger analyzed electrical activity in monkeys’ brain cells while the subjects watched a dot move across a computer screen. The study found that when a monkey’s neuron misfired while tracking, neighboring neurons also misfired. Sometimes...
April 14, 2016
How does Steph Curry, the NBA’s most dominant point guard, still miss a three-pointer? A recent study in the journal NEURON may shed some light on how individuals make errors even after thousands of reps. A study by Duke University neurobiologist Stephen Lisberger analyzed electrical activity in monkeys’ brain cells while the subjects watched a dot move across a computer screen. The study found that when a monkey’s neuron misfired while tracking, neighboring neurons also misfired. Sometimes...
Information Avoidance
April 13, 2016
We commonly think of information as a means to an end. However, a growing theoretical and experimental literature suggests that information may directly enter the agent’s utility function. This can create an incentive to avoid information, even when it is useful, free, and independent of strategic considerations. We review research documenting the occurrence of information avoidance as well as theoretical and empirical research on reasons for why people avoid information, drawing from economics,...
April 13, 2016
We commonly think of information as a means to an end. However, a growing theoretical and experimental literature suggests that information may directly enter the agent’s utility function. This can create an incentive to avoid information, even when it is useful, free, and independent of strategic considerations. We review research documenting the occurrence of information avoidance as well as theoretical and empirical research on reasons for why people avoid information, drawing from economics,...
Is Competition Really the Opposite of Cooperation?
April 12, 2016
In any negotiation training class, the concepts of “distributive “bargaining and “integrative” bargaining are invariably...
April 12, 2016
In any negotiation training class, the concepts of “distributive “bargaining and “integrative” bargaining are invariably...
Fifty Shades of Manipulation
April 10, 2016
A statement or action can be said to be manipulative if it does not sufficiently engage or appeal to people’s capacity for reflective and deliberative choice. One problem with manipulation, thus understood, is that it fails to respect people’s autonomy and is an affront to their dignity. Another problem is that if they are products of manipulation, people’s choices might fail to promote their own welfare, and might instead promote the welfare of the manipulator. To that extent, the central...
April 10, 2016
A statement or action can be said to be manipulative if it does not sufficiently engage or appeal to people’s capacity for reflective and deliberative choice. One problem with manipulation, thus understood, is that it fails to respect people’s autonomy and is an affront to their dignity. Another problem is that if they are products of manipulation, people’s choices might fail to promote their own welfare, and might instead promote the welfare of the manipulator. To that extent, the central...
Tech Companies are Increasingly Choosing ADR
April 5, 2016
Due to the rising cost and length of litigation, and a desire for privacy, tech companies are turning to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to settle legal clashes. But, where do they go to identify efficient, vetted ADR experts? What do in-house counsel and law firms need to know to make the process run smoothly? * * * Tech companies increasingly turning to ADR to settle legal clashes, and there are a lot of reasons for that. According to Benton, first, courts are backlogged with cases....
April 5, 2016
Due to the rising cost and length of litigation, and a desire for privacy, tech companies are turning to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to settle legal clashes. But, where do they go to identify efficient, vetted ADR experts? What do in-house counsel and law firms need to know to make the process run smoothly? * * * Tech companies increasingly turning to ADR to settle legal clashes, and there are a lot of reasons for that. According to Benton, first, courts are backlogged with cases....
The International Evolution of Mediation: A Call for Dialogue and Deliberation
April 5, 2016
The following article is a revised and expanded version of lectures delivered by the author at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Law and the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland in October, 2014 as the New Zealand Law Foundation's International Dispute Resolution Visiting Scholar. The author posits that the mounting global preoccupation with mediation, resulting in a proliferating array of institutions, programs, laws and regulations; an international "evangelical" movement; and growing...
April 5, 2016
The following article is a revised and expanded version of lectures delivered by the author at the Victoria University of Wellington School of Law and the Faculty of Law, University of Auckland in October, 2014 as the New Zealand Law Foundation's International Dispute Resolution Visiting Scholar. The author posits that the mounting global preoccupation with mediation, resulting in a proliferating array of institutions, programs, laws and regulations; an international "evangelical" movement; and growing...
