The Psychology of Decision-Making in Mediation – Part 2
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator Part Two: Emotion and Behavior Introduction This article is the second installment in a two-part series examining the psychological forces that influence decision-making in mediation. The first article addressed cognition—how people think. This installment focuses...
The Psychology of Decision Making in Mediation
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator Part One: Cognition & Cognitive Bias Introduction This article is the first in a two-part series exploring key psychological dynamics that influence decision making during mediation. We will examine how people think (cognition), how...
Signatures? We Don’t Need No Stinking Signatures
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator Many of you may recall a prior article I wrote where I discussed the mandates of Fla.R.Civ.P. 1.730 in terms of who was required to sign the mediation agreement. This Rule addresses completion of...
Are You Seeing the Whole Elephant?
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator There are some really great proverbs that help illustrate what mediation is all about. One of them involves some blind children and an elephant. It goes like this: A support group for blind children...
The Importance of Listening in Conflict Resolution
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator It has been said that listening is the most important part of communication. I would go so far as to say that this applies even more in conflict resolution. Quite simply, if we don’t hear...
Can Your Mediator Find The 18th Horse?
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator There is a great proverb that illustrates how vital it is to be able to think outside the box as a mediator when you are faced with a difficult fact pattern. It goes like this:...
So Close, Yet So Far
By: Philip G. Thompson Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator Florida Supreme Court Qualified Arbitrator You have been in mediation for several hours representing one of the parties in a hotly contested case. Because we are still dealing with the Covid-19 Pandemic (Thanks Delta and Omicron!), chances are this...