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<\/a> Is mediation fair to women?<\/p>\nI grapple with this question in my new article,\u00a0The Psychology and Neurobiology of Mediation<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>in the\u00a0Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n For previously published excerpts on this site, see the links below.<\/p>\n Elizabeth Bader, The Psychology and Neurobiology of Mediation<\/a>,<\/strong><\/p>\n Volume 17 (2)\u00a0Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution\u00a0<\/a>(Winter Issue).<\/strong><\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/a><\/p>\n I. \u00a0Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n II. The Neurobiology of Mediation: An Overview<\/a><\/p>\n . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n IV.C.2.\u00a0 The Role of Gender<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0A new model of the human threat response argues that, in addition to fight, flight, and immobilization\/freeze, our responses to threat may also include a \u201ctend and befriend\u201d response\u2014a type of protective response more characteristic of women.\u00a0 This strategy includes trying to affiliate with others in one\u2019s group for mutual defense, presumably to protect offspring. 1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n The model is based, in part, on existing knowledge regarding the effects of oxytocin on affiliative behavior. \u00a0Oxytocin is a hormone generated in great volumes in the female body during childbirth and breastfeeding.\u00a0 As a neurotransmitter in the brain, it is also known to promote nurturing, couple bonding, and trust.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n To the extent the tend and befriend response includes a tendency to respond to threat by seeking affiliation, rather than competition, it may put certain people, especially women, at a disadvantage when dealing with a high-functioning, highly competitive, ego-inflated person on the other side. This concern was first raised many decades ago.\u00a03<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n There is an overlap here between issues of trauma and gender.\u00a0 Although our culture tends to equate PTSD with men returning from war, women are twice as likely as men to develop PTSD.\u00a04<\/a><\/sup> This may be due in part to the invasive type of trauma women are more likely to experience, namely childhood sexual abuse and rape.\u00a05<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n At least some women may be disadvantaged by having less confidence during competition. \u00a0A recent study found that when presented with difficult feedback in competitive situations, women found it more difficult than men to recover their effectiveness; women were less able to inhibit the amygdala. 6<\/a><\/sup> and activate the prefrontal cortex 7<\/a><\/sup> after receiving the challenging feedback.\u00a08<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Research suggesting that male lawyers tend to be more overconfident than female lawyers also supports this view.\u00a09<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Thus, there is recent support for concerns raised decades ago about the potential unfairness of mediation for women due to their tendency to be more \u201crelational\u201d (as opposed to adversarial) than men, or for other reasons.<\/p>\n ADDITIONAL RESOURCES<\/strong><\/p>\n For some excerpts from Shelley Taylor’s book, The Tending Instinct, please see The Tending Instinct, Generally<\/a> and The Tending Instinct, Men’s Groups<\/a><\/p>\n For a post on the practical implications of this research, and a case analysis, please go here<\/a>.\u00a0 To read posts when they are distributed, please sign in here<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Your information will never be shared.<\/p>\n If two parties are forced to engage with one another, and one has a more relational sense of self than the other, that party may feel compelled to maintain her connection with the other, even to her own detriment. For this reason, the party with the more relational sense of self will be at a disadvantage in a mediated negotiation.<\/p>\n Trina Grillo, The Mediation Alternative: Process Dangers For Women<\/em>, 100 Yale L.J. 1545, 1550 (1991).<\/p>\n More recently, it has been argued, that although these concerns have not been much discussed recently, that may need to change.\u00a0 See<\/em> generally <\/em>Danya Shocair Reda, <\/em>Critical Conflicts Between First-Wave and Feminist Critical Approaches to Alternative Dispute Resolution<\/em>, 20 Tex. J. Women & Law 193, 193\u2013229 (2011). ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li> Additionally, a national survey found that more than one in three women and more than one in four men have experienced rape, physical violence, and\/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime.\u00a0 Michelle C. Black et al., The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report<\/em>, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011, \u00a0http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/violenceprevention\/pdf\/nisvs_report2010-a.pdf (last visited, July 28, 2015) (noting more than one in three women (35.6%) and more than one in four men (28.5%) in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and\/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime). ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li> Some people were, however, able to recover, and were identified as \u201chigh performers.\u201d\u00a0 These people were able to inhibit the amygdala through activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.\u00a0 Most notably, many fewer women were able to recover even though, as noted above, all participants were equally equipped to solve the problems in terms of intelligence.<\/p>\n For the full study, see<\/em> Kenneth T. Kishida et al., Implicit signals in small group settings and their impact on the expression of cognitive capacity and associated brain responses<\/em>, 367 Phil. Transactions Royal Soc\u2019y B. 704, 704\u201316 (2012). ↩<\/a><\/span><\/li> This excerpt from Elizabeth’s article in the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution asks the question: Is mediation fair to women? Recent research in neurobiology and psychology is discussed. A subsequent post deals with practical implications of the research on gender, psychology and neurobiology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,13,67,27,75,56,98,26,17,79,9,100,121,85,87],"tags":[107,104,103,19,105,110,39,102],"class_list":["post-5846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender-and-conflict-resolution","category-healing-trauma","category-mediation-2","category-mediation","category-resolving-conflict","category-mediation-training","category-neuroscience-of-mediation","category-peter-levine","category-process-of-mediation","category-psychology-of-conflict-resolution","category-psychology-of-mediation","category-psychology-neurobiology-mediation","category-trauma-informed-mediation","category-women","category-women-in-mediation-and-conflict-resolution","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-gender","tag-gender-and-mediation","tag-overconfidence","tag-psychology-and-mediation","tag-psychology-of-conflict-resolution","tag-psychology-of-mediation-2","tag-women-and-mediation","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"yoast_head":"\n
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