Brains On Purpose™

Do you have a conflict habit? A reminder of the role of values in effective conflict resolution

When a person affirms his or her deepest values, the process of conflict resolution can be easier, and often quicker. In fact, most other activities can be facilitated by affirming your values (what is called self-affirmation), whether it be running, or recharging, or writing.

However, for many of us, our habits can get in the way. We all have seen clients, friends, colleagues, and, yes, ourselves repeatedly or automatically default to a conflict mode. And, at the extreme, are behaviors such as addiction to indignation, a state that makes the resolution of a dispute very difficult. As we have discussed here before and as I talk about in my programs, those habitual behaviors, even the most extreme, can be changed and self-affirmation plays an essential role in that change.

Here's an overview of a recent talk by neuroscientist Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz in which he talks about habit and self-affirmation. I highly recommend reading it as a good review. Click to read "The neuroscience of habit with Dr Jeffrey Schwartz" now. He talks about the helpful role of mindfulness, too:

Jeffrey says that when you practice mindfulness, you become aware of all the nonsense going on in your mind. You can then use this observation to make judgments about what you will allow to play out in your life.

“The brain is passive, the mind is active. The mind is the choices and decisions you make. You have to use the brain and the mind as a team. The brain puts out the call, the mind decides whether to listen.”

The role of the conflict professional's self-reflection in effective conflict resolution

What is the role of self-awareness and self-reflection in effective conflict resolution? To hear a teleconference on that topic, click here. The title of the teleconference is "Inside Out: How Conflict Professionals Can Use Self-Reflection to Help Their Clients" and it features long-time mediator and lawyer Gary Friedman.

Brain overclaim syndrome: Can I convince you I know something by citing neuroscience?

Are so many mediators citing neuroscience these days because it is cool? Hot? Fashionable? I don't know. That the science being cited is often either inaccurate or not helpful to conflict resolution is sometimes a tad disturbing.

Even though I have blogged about it before, I had forgotten about the phrase "brain overclaim syndrome" until reading this book review from Scientific American. Maybe it partially explains the growth of brain science being mentioned in mediation circles?

Although the book being reviewed is not about conflict resolution, a couple of the paragraphs are relevant to the proliferation of neuroscience in the dispute field . . .

This is where the book truly disappoints. Rather than simply giving us straight talk about how disorganized our thoughts and lives are (but we knew that) and how we can do better (tell us, please!), Levitin insists on informing us repeatedly and in detail about how various regions or pathways in the brain are “involved in” the various cognitive and behavioral phenomena he surveys. He really means that increased neural activity in these areas of the brain is correlated with certain behavioral and cognitive phenomena, which actually means only that such activity tends to occur at about the same time as the behavioral and cognitive phenomena. That is not saying much, which is why Levitin keeps implying more with that vague phrase, “involved in.”

University of Pennsylvania law professor Stephen Morse has dubbed this practice the “brain overclaim syndrome”—the pathological tendency to fool people into thinking you have a profound understanding of something by pointing to brain studies. It goes without saying that any distinctive thing we do—raising an arm, thinking of sheep or shouting, “Hooray!”—must be accompanied by some corresponding neural activity, but that does not explain the activity.

(Click to read the rest of the review.) How much is neuroscience being used today as a trendy camouflage of basic psychology or wisdom or common sense? What does brain science add to any of those three? Typically nothing or not much, in my opinion. What do you think? What has neuroscience brought us that has changed the practice of mediation?

Good to hear: Two interviews with me have made top-10 or most-listened-to lists

I am pleased to say that the interview by Zena Zumeta of me for the Texas Conflict Coach Radio Blog Show was one of The Best of 2013. The description:

Brains on Purpose: Traits and States to Shape Your Conflict Fate

Our brains are changing all the time. We can be in control of those changes or we can have accidental brains, ruled by habit. Stephanie will show you how you can break bad habits, set and reach goals, and maximize your ability to handle conflict through the process of self-directed neuroplasticity. By using some basic techniques, you can take charge of how your brain changes. You can rewire your brain on purpose.

Click to listen (the link is towards the bottom of the page).

And my interview by Dave Hilton was among the top 10 episodes of the Conflict Specialists Show. The description:

Conflict Resolution, Neuroscience & Zombies with Stephanie West Allen (Idealawg)

In this 31st episode of the Conflict Specialists Show, Dave Hilton interviews Stephanie West Allen (Idealawg & Brains on Purpose) about her work with Conflict Resolution, Neuroscience, Mediation, Monsters and…wait for it…ZOMBIES!

Some of the topics in today’s episode:

• Writing Multiple Blogs
• BOOK – Triversity Fantasy: Seven Keys To Unlock Prejudice
• Neuroscience and Conflict
• Edgar Allan Poe, Monsters and Zombies
• and more

Click to listen.

Cognitive complexity: How can reading a novel help you to be a better mediator?

Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us about Popular Culture

Because the cognitive complexity levels of each of the parties and of the mediator can create either effective matches or unproductive clashes in conflict resolution, I recently have posted on my blogs several times about those levels. (See links below.)

Theories about what increases cognitive complexity are numerous. Most of the theorists seem to agree that developing higher complexity takes time; it also involves experiencing situations which enable a person to feel more and more comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. The benefits of complexity include the ability to take multiple perspectives, the already-mentioned comfort with ambiguity, skill in strong and complete analysis, and self-awareness. All of those benefits are helpful in conflict resolution; disparate levels of these traits in the people involved (including the mediator) can hamper or prevent resolution. Therefore it is important for mediators to understand these differences, assess them, and know what to do when they are driving behavior.

And now a surprise: Another method of promoting cognitive complexity may be reading fiction! If you want to learn more,

Knowledge of psychosynthesis is a great asset for mediators: Here's the neuroscience behind that asset

I have posted a number of times on both my blogs (find posts here and here) about the benefits of understanding psychosynthesis. When I was participating in a two-year intensive in mediation, a 10-day training in psychosynthesis was required. Over the decades since, I frequently have been grateful for my knowledge of psychosynthesis, so much so that I took a several day refresher course a couple of years ago. In short, I highly recommend to any mediator that he or she learn more about this approach and philosophy, at least by reading the books listed over to the right by Assagioli and Ferrucci.

About a year ago, an article about the neuroscience of psychosynthesis was published by the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. It was written by Piero Ferrucci, a man who studied with Roberto Assagioli, the founder of psychosynthesis, and who is very skilled at explaining Assagioli's gift to us. Because I was so impressed with the article, I am shocked that I did not link to it before now. What's that cliche? Better late than never?

From "Psychosynthesis in the Light of Neuroscience":

Many studies in neuroscience show us psychosynthesis in action (without calling it that) in all its important aspects. Studying neuroscience in this context is like learning psychosynthesis again from a different, more concrete perspective. In this essay—by no means an exhaustive treatment of the subject, which would require much more space—I will highlight some basic themes that psychosynthesis and neuroscience have in common.

You likely will recognize several of the names Ferrucci references, including Jeffrey Schwartz, Mario Beauregard, and Daniel Siegel. Click to read the article. I enthusiastically recommend it!

Filters and frames: Mediation is all about the viewfinder

Our brains are vigilant, hyperaware of any sensed change to see if it represents danger. Partly because they use a lot of our energy, our brains seek to deal with new information quickly and easily. So, rather like a photographer, the brain applies filters and frames. The filters shift, accentuate, and diminish what is seen. And the frames limit what is viewed to certain boundaries.

Changing the filters and the frames can make the shot new, fresh, and different. Perhaps the picture is improved—more clear, with a clarity that brings high resolution.

In a conflict, each party has a viewfinder; typically the views found are diverse, disparate, and sometimes painfully discordant. The less attention paid to those viewfinders, the more remote effective and satisfactory resolution becomes. In contrast, attention can bring a solution into focus.

By applying apps, filters, and frames below, I can display several versions of the same scene. (Please click on the pictures to see them full-sized; the quality is reduced by importing them into Typepad.) Do the different shots remind you of any dispute you have mediated? Any conflict in which you and another person have disagreed?

Conflict resolution can be as simple as becoming aware that our viewfinders are individual and often contrasting. Once in a while, coming to a resolution can even be a snap if we pay full attention to the fact that our views may be as different as a photo is from its negative.

When in conflict, it can help to snap to attention!

What is the biggest, scariest mediation monster of all?

Before I venture an answer to the question in the title of this post, let me put forth a definition of monster, one of which I am particularly fond:

Monster derives from the Latin word monstrum, which in turn derives from the root monere (to warn). To be a monster is to be an omen.

--Stephen T. Asma, On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears

Then let me tell you what got me thinking about monsters in the context of mediation. Recently I found an article written about a mediation training at which I assisted back in 1988. The lead trainer was Gary Friedman whom I had invited to New Mexico to conduct the seminar. In reading the article written so long ago, I was reminded of what is often missing in the mediation of today.

The article included several principles of the mediation model being taught at this Santa Fe seminar:

• "The most important aim of mediation, Friedman said, is 'empowering the parties.' He encouraged mediators to resist every attempt by parties to burden the mediator with the responsibilities that the parties themselves need to assume."
• "The voluntariness of mediation is one of its most empowering aspects, he said. The fact that either party may leave at any time is crucial to the process."
• "'Bringing in law relevant to a particular case requires the mediator to walk a thin line between, on the one hand, viewing law as determining outcome, and, on the other hand, viewing it as irrelevant,' he explained." The role it will play is up to the disputants.
• "The mediator needs 'inner freedom' to help the parties, Friedman indicated. That freedom is achieved by the mediator's awareness of his or her own reaction and biases." Both introspection and self-awareness are very important to the skill of a mediator and the success of the process.

Click to read the whole article: "Mediation Course for Lawyers Stresses Empowerment Of Parties" (BNA's ADR Report).

These four factors—party empowerment; voluntariness; law as, at the most, only one factor to be considered in resolution; and mediator self-awareness—probably have not increased in the field of mediation since 1988. In fact, there are many who would say they have decreased, and that the process has become more

Lessons from Poe: Detecting the Inner Mediator—Join us this May in Baltimore

I will be presenting three programs in Baltimore on May 2 and 3. They are being offered by the ADR Section of the Maryland Bar Association at Westminster Hall, site of the Edgar Allan Poe crypt. Below is the description of the day-long program being held on May 2. I will also give a keynote that evening.

And, if 20 people register by April 1, we will have a practicum on May 3 based on the day-long program from the day before. More information and registration for May 2 here. If you are interested in the practicum, please email David Simison. [Note added April 3: We are no longer taking sign-ups for the practicum.]

I hope to see many of you there!

Lessons from Poe: Detecting the Inner Mediator

Poe is acknowledged by many as the genius who invented the detective story and inspired the genre of science fiction. Over 150 years after his death, we can still learn much from the imagination of this author and poet.

A skilled mediator is a supreme detective. The foremost, primary, and threshold mystery to solve: What method of mediation is best suited to the individual conflict professional, the parties, and the conflict. We will use an assessment approach to facilitate that first solution.

The clues a mediator must be able to read with precision involve self-awareness and self-knowledge, discovery of purpose, theory of mind (or discovering what's in the minds of other people), and razor focus on solutions, not problems. We will take our magnifying glasses to those topics and sharpen those skills.

What's science fiction have to do with mediation? Currently conflict resolution training is full of neuroscience that is fiction. We will separate the facts from the fiction and hype. We'll look at

Ideographically and pictographically speaking: Using images to solve problems is brain-friendly

Doctors do it. Trial lawyers do it. Kids do it. Why aren't more lawyers doing it? Why don't we see it more often in mediations?

"It" is drawing. Given what we know about the brain, one would expect to see much more drawing in meetings of decisions coaches with their clients. By decision coaches, I mean service professionals of all stripes, including physicians, ministers, dentists, mental health professionals, funeral directors, lawyers, and mediators.

In at least two ways, drawing can improve communication between decision coaches and their clients. First, it can help the coach explain factors that may be important to the client's making a good decision about matters for which he has sought the professional's counsel. Second, it can facilitate the client's explaining to the coach matters critical to the decision being made. Drawing can take understanding between decision coach and client to a new level of clarity.

Drawing also brings another bonus to decision making. Words are not always the most direct, efficient, and productive vehicle for accessing good ideas and sharp insights in the mind and brain.The fastest path to creativity often may be through drawing. (I've blogged about this before and explained why I frequently have attendees at my seminars draw the concepts we are discussing.) If the decision coach

Become a Quick Draw: Let images guide you to new understanding

In every program I present, I advocate the use of images in addition to words to facilitate communication. Last weekend at the 19th Annual Nothwest Dispute Resolution Conference, that advocacy was taken to whole new level because I was fortunate to have Nancy White graphically record my presentation. Take a look at her masterpiece above (click to enlarge). It is obvious why she is one of the world's top gurus of the processes of graphic recording and graphic facilitation!

Coincidentally, today Globe and Mail published a fine article on using images and the visual components of thinking. From "For polished presentations, think visually":

Visual thinking is an approach that uses art to develop critical thinking, communication and visual literacy skills. Incorporating sketching and visual note-taking skills for meeting facilitation in real time instead of using PowerPoint presentations is an effective way to solve problems, articulate ideas and communicate with clients and team members.

Here are ten things about visual thinking that will help you to facilitate a highly interactive, productive and enjoyable meeting.

Click to read the rest.

To read why the brain likes images, take a look at

• Opening the Mind's Eye: How Images and Language Teach Us How To See
• The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World

And here are a couple of past blog posts about the value of images in communication and conflict resolution:

• Images can help you paint a bright resolution to conflict
• Are you involved in half-brained mediations? Let's promote full-brained conflict resolution

Now get out your utensils—chalks, pencils, crayolas, pens, whatever—and draw. Doing so will take you to new places in your brain, new solutions and resolutions, new ways of seeing.

Note (added May 9, 2012): Recent post at idealawg: Another way to incorporate images, pictures, drawings in conflict resolution.

Note (added May 10, 2012): New post here: How do you listen attentively? Well, first you grab a paint brush, a pencil, or a piece of chalk.

Forthcoming Events in Mindfulness, Law & Dispute Resolution

From an e-mail compiled by Professor Leonard Riskin:

The Initiative on Mindfulness in Law and Dispute Resolution, University of Florida Levin College of Law
April 1, 2012
 
Forthcoming Events, News, and Resources Related to Mindfulness in Law and Dispute Resolution
(Note: This is not a comprehensive (or systematically prepared list of events related to mindfulness in law and dispute resolution. Other resources for information on events dealing with mindfulness in law and dispute resolution are listed at the end of this document.)
 
April 26-29, 2012, International Symposia for Contemplative Studies, Denver, Colorado. http://www.mindandlife.org/research-initiatives/sri/sri12/ [This is a better link.]
 
June 16-20, 2012. Mind and Life Summer Research Institute: The Embodied Mind, Garrison, N.Y. The Embodied Mind. http://www.mindandlife.org/research-initiatives/sri/sri12/
 
Tools of Mindful Awareness for Lawyers, Mediators, Negotiators, Judges, Arbitrators, and Managers
June 21-23, 2012. Malibu, CA
Oct. 14-16, 2010, Woodstock, VT.
Mar. 14-16, Baltimore, MD.
 
Sponsored by Pepperdine University School of Law, Institute for Dispute Resolution. Led by Leonard Riskin, Professor, University of Florida College of Law and Visiting Professor, Northwestern University School of Law, and Rachel Wohl, Director, Maryland Supreme Court Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office . See http://law.pepperdine.edu/straus/training-and-conferences/  or contact Lori Rushford at [email protected].  [Note: Full-time law school professors may be able to attend for a nominal fee.]
 
June 27-29, 2012, Chicago (Downtown). Summer Institute on Negotiation: Critical Skills for Effective Negotiating.Northwestern University, School of Continuing Studies.  Led by Leonard Riskin, Chesterfield Smith Professor, University of Florida Levin College of Law and Visiting Professor, Northwestern University School of Law, and Daniel Shapiro, Harvard Law School & Harvard Medical School; and Director, Harvard International Negotiation Program. This course, offered for the seventh time, integrates instruction and practice in mindfulness with the teachings of Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro’s award-winning Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate (Viking 2005).  For more information, see http://www.scs.northwestern.edu/summernu/programs/negotiation.cfm
 
July 29-August 3, 2012. Annual Summer Session on Contemplative Pedagogy. Northampton, MA, Smith College.    Sponsored by the Association for Contemplative Mind in Higher Education. http://www.acmhe.org/
 
NEW: Spring 2013.  Second Annual Mindful Lawyer Conference, University of California-Berkeley School of Law, Berkeley, California.  Sponsored by the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness in Law,  http://www.law.berkeley.edu/mindfulness.htm
 
 
Recent and Forthcoming Publications
Richard J. Davidson with Sharon Begley, The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way You Think, Feel, and Live--and How You Can Change Them (Penguin Group, 2012).
(Congressman) Tim Ryan, A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit (Hay House 2012).
Leo F. Smyth, Escalation and Mindfulness, _28 Negotiation Journal 45 (Jan. 2012)
Symposium, The Mindful Lawyer, Journal of Legal Education, May2012)
Articles by Charles Halpern, Angela Harris, Katherine Larkin-Wong, Leonard Riskin,, & David Zlotnick
 
Once published, these articles will be publically available at (http://www.swlaw.edu/jle)
 
 
Other News:
The University of California at Berkeley School of Law has announced the formation of the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness in Law. Charles Halpern is the Director.  http://www.law.berkeley.edu/mindfulness.htm.
 
Other Resources