In previous blogs, I have discussed the importance of "small talk" as a way to not only get to know people but to build rapport and trust. A key to helping parties settle their dispute is having a relationship with them and that relationship depends on trust. A party is [Read More]
I had an interesting mediation the other day. I say "interesting" as I am not sure what other adjective to use.Like most of my mediations, it involved an automobile. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant, a used car dealer, misrepresented several important details in the financing of the used automobile [Read More]
A recent online article by Richard Farrell on discovery.com reviews a study revealing that man's best friend may not always be as happy as we think. In "Bowl Half Empty: Dogs Can Be Pessimists", Mr. Farrell reviews a study that tested the "judgment bias" of dogs. As the study explains, [Read More]
Once again, the New York Times has published an interesting article in its Sunday Review section on September 5, 2014 entitled "Liking Work Really Matters" by Paul A. O'Keefe. The thesis is that when we really enjoy what we are doing, we can do it for much longer than if [Read More]
Earlier this year, I posted a blog about a U. S. District Court case, Craig Milhouse and Pamela Milhouse v. Travelers Commercial Insurance Company (Case No. SACV-10-01730-CJC (ANx), C.D. Cal.), in which the court held that a "due process" exception applies to mediation confidentiality. Plaintiffs sued defendant for insurance bad [Read More]
Once again, The Economist has reported on an interesting study concerning artificial intelligence and psychology. In its August 16, 2014 edition, the authors of "The Computer will see you now" discuss a study in which the participants chatted with an avatar. More specifically, Jonathan Gratch at the Institute for Creative [Read More]
In their book, The Invisible Gorilla, (Harmony 2010) Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris discuss the notion of Inattentional Blindness or how when we are looking at a scene, we may become so focused on one particular aspect of what we are viewing that we miss the other objects or stimuli [Read More]
Over the last couple of months, I have posted blogs entitled Anger Management (June 13, 2014), Good Faith (July 3, 2014); Listening for the Emotions (July 18, 2014); Which System is In Control? (July 25, 2014) and Vengeance Shall Never be Yours August 1, 2014). On numerous occasions, I have also [Read More]
