In 1992, John Gray, Ph.D. published Men Are From Mars, Women are From Venus (HarperCollins Publishing 1992) to explain why men and women have difficulty communicating with each other.It seems that recent neurological experiments provide validity to Dr. Gray's thesis. An article (Vive la diff̩rence!) in the Science section of [Read More]
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I read Malcolm Gladwell's latest book, David and Goliath (Little, Brown and Company 2013). While he raises many interesting points throughout the book, the one that struck me was the "inverted U-curve" which he first mentions in chapter 1. In a footnote on page 54, he [Read More]
"The Illusion of Memory"Recently, I conducted a mediation involving the purchase and sale of a used vehicle several years ago. The consumer was suing the used car dealer for its alleged failure to disclose certain information about the used vehicle prior to the sale.I listened to each party's story including [Read More]
Today is Black Friday and with it, comes lots of shopping and negotiating for good buys. So... when is the best time to negotiate the best deal? Well, according to a study published about a month ago, people tend to be more honest and more ethical in the morning.A small [Read More]
Let us suppose that you are an attorney representing a client at a mediation. The following occurs:Your clients, the defendants, have told you that you are authorizedto pay $750,000 to settle the case. In settlement negotiations, after your offer of $650,000, the plaintiff's attorney asks "Are you authorized to settle [Read More]
Is eye contact a good thing or a bad thing? Some will answer by saying it depends upon the person's cultural background as Westerners value sustained eye contact while Middle Easterners and/or Asians will view it as inappropriate. Others will answer by saying it depends on which study is under [Read More]
On Sunday, October 13, 2013, I will be participating in a panel presentation entitled, "Ethical Duties of Eliminating Bias in the Legal Profession" as part of the California State Bar's Eighty Sixth Annual Meeting in San Jose, California. The focus of our discussion will be hidden/implicit biases-those biases that exist [Read More]
In 1999, Professors Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris conducted a now well known study at Harvard University on distraction. As explained in a recent article on BBC Health News:Participants watched a video of two groups of people passing a basketball around - one group in black shirts, one group in [Read More]
