Functions of a third party in the resolution of conflict: The role of a judge in pretrial conferences.

Abstract

Investigated the role of a third party in resolving interpersonal conflict in the context of a simulated pretrial conference on a civil legal case. The judge encouraged the 2 attorneys (144 recent law school graduates or law students) to approach the case in either a step-by-step fashion (partitive set) or in an integrative manner in which the multiple issues were considered in a package settlement (wholistic set). In 1/2 of the dyads the judge instituted an issue identification procedure to increase the negotiators' understanding of the areas of dispute; in the other 1/2 of the dyads the Ss advanced into direct negotiations without the benefit of the procedure. The case involved the partition of 5 tracts of land. Priorities of the 2 clients were arranged in 2 different patterns to represent either a high- or a low-conflict situation. Results support the prediction that the wholistic set would facilitate the exchange process and the number of settlements more than would the partitive set. Evidence was also found for the hypothesis that the issue identification procedure would have detrimental effects in the high-conflict case. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)