We mediators play midwife to decision making. We patiently assist in an arduous and sometimes painful process while parties labor, struggling to make the right choices in difficult circumstances. We strive to ensure that those who weigh those choices are able to reach rational decisions based on accurate and complete information.
But just how rational are the decisions that people make, whether at the mediation table or anywhere else? How much control do any of us really exert over those choices?
A new book has some surprising answers and explains why it is that we are more susceptible than we realize to the vagaries of our own minds and vulnerable to the forces of emotions and social norms. Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions, written by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist, the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Behavioral Economics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and a visiting professor at Duke University.
As much fun as the book (and of course more interactive) is the Predictably Irrational web site. Don’t miss the Demonstrations page with cool optical illusions and games you can test yourself with.
In a society where media coverage and public concern shift rapidly from one headline to another, tension surrounding the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner seems to have exceptional...
By Richard BarbieriThis is the complete interview by Robert Benjamin with Juliana Birkhoff, national leader in the field of public policy mediation, filmed for the Mediate.com "Views from the Eye of the...
By Juliana E. Birkhoff Ph.D.From John DeGroote's Settlement Perspectives The story might be better if I could make it more dramatic, but tires aren’t all that exciting. My car had turned 5 and rolled...
By John DeGroote
