Mediation and the Science of Decision Making: Conclusion

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky revolutionized economics by changing the focus from hypothetical “rational actors” to real people, who frequently make bad decisions as a result of behavioral patterns and cognitive errors of which they are not aware. Learning to recognize these patterns and errors will help you be more successful in all decision-making processes and in all negotiations. And a mediator who understands these patterns and errors and how to deal with them will do a better job helping the parties resolve their cases.

Here are the links to all eleven installments of this series: 

Part I: Introduction 

Part II: People Act Rationally, Don’t They? 

Part III: People Avoid Risk When They Stand to Gain and Seek Risk When They Stand to Lose 

Part IV: People Evaluate Gains and Losses Relative to Their Reference Points 

Part V: The Greater the Loss or Gain, the Less Any Incremental Change Matters 

Part VI: People Hate Losing More Than They Love Winning. Losses Loom Larger Than Gains. 

Part VII: States of Change -- The Possibility and Certainty Effects 

Part VIII: Set Your Reference Points Before You Begin Negotiating 

Part IX: Think Like A Trader 

Part X: Shift Reference Points And Use The Endowment Effect To Close The Deal. 

Part XI: Do The Math, With Pencil And Paper.