{"id":1280,"date":"2013-07-11T16:14:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-11T23:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/?p=1280"},"modified":"2023-07-06T18:12:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T01:12:58","slug":"the-psychology-of-mediation-ii-the-idr-cycle-a-new-model-for-understanding-mediation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethbader.com\/elizabethbadersblog\/the-psychology-of-mediation-ii-the-idr-cycle-a-new-model-for-understanding-mediation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Psychology of Mediation (II): The IDR Cycle, A New Model For Understanding Mediation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\"Elizabeth<\/a><\/i><\/i>NOTE:<\/b> The following article is an illustrated version of an article that was originally published on mediate.com. <\/i>It is an excerpted and edited version of Elizabeth\u2019s article, The Psychology of Mediation: Issues of Self and Identity and the IDR Cycle<\/a>, <\/i>10 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L. J. 183 (2010).<\/td>\n\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Here is the link<\/a> to the first part of this article dealing with the\u00a0 mediator’s own issues of self and identity.<\/p>\n

Introduction<\/b><\/h4>\n

As discussed in Part 1 of this article,<\/a> it is well established that issues of \u201cface,\u201d \u201cego,\u201d self-esteem and self-identity pose formidable psychological barriers to resolution in mediation.<\/p>\n

What has been generally unnoticed, however, is that \u201cface\u201d issues not only shape individual reactions during mediation. They profoundly shape the process <\/i> of mediation through what I have called the IDR cycle. This is an introduction to this complex subject.<\/p>\n

The IDR Cycle <\/b><\/h4>\n

Parties in mediation typically pass through a cycle of psychological inflation <\/i> (overconfidence), deflation<\/i>, and, finally, if the dispute settles, realistic resolution. <\/i>\u00a0 This is the IDR cycle. I have explained the causes of this phenomenon in great depth in my article in the Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal.<\/a> It is caused, fundamentally, by the all-too-human tendency for parties to take conflict personally, and the outcome of the mediation as a reflection of who they are.<\/p>\n

A simple overview of the cycle is as follows. Parties enter negotiations full of overconfident dreams and expectations, and these dreams and hopes are linked in their minds with the sense of who they are. Unfortunately, their expectations rarely coincide with what is actually possible. After all, the other side also<\/i> has an agenda. As a result, there is inevitably a period of disappointment and deflation once negotiations begin in earnest.<\/p>\n

Realistic resolution of the dispute, then, often coincides with parties\u2019 recovering from their sense of injured pride and disappointment. Along the way, they must let go of their identification with their preferred resolution of the conflict, and, implicitly, their sense of who they are in relationship to it.<\/p>\n

The Inflation\/Overconfidence Stage: The Key to the IDR Cycle<\/b><\/h4>\n

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\u00a0The key to the IDR cycle is the first stage, the stage of what I call \u201cinflation\u201d and what social psychologists call \u201coverconfidence.\u201d Numerous research studies have shown that at the outset of negotiations, parties are generally overconfident, and this is so even if one accounts for the phenomenon of posturing. In fact, it has been said that the findings on overconfidence are \u201c[a]mong the most robust findings in research on social perceptions and cognition over the last two decades.\u201d<\/p>\n

Overconfidence is a complex phenomenon. However, here are a few of the reasons for it:<\/p>\n