Psycholawgy: What Dispute Resolution Practitioners Overlook?

Abstract

This article brings to the readers’ attention several particular subconscious ‘blinders’ together with their potential implications in the field of dispute resolution and offers practical recommendations in relation thereto from both the counsel and judge/arbitrator perspective. The article does not aim to provide the readers with an exhaustive theoretical background of the psychology of decision-making. Instead, it will put into the spotlight only ‘blinders’ that (1) are likely to emerge in dispute resolution; (2) are easy to explain and exemplify without going too deeply into psychology; (3) suggest very concrete practical inferences; and (4) can be used to produce tips for practitioners. Finally, it is suggested that it may be the time to rethink the approach to dispute resolution by taking more account of non-legal influences affecting disputes’ outcomes, which might in some cases be as influential as blackletter law.