We are more likely to say yes to people we like, or so claims Robert Cialdini in his work, “Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion”. It is perhaps common sense – after all it explains the “good cop, bad cop” interrogation techniques employed by detectives on a regular basis (or so the tv would lead us to believe!).
Nevertheless, it is an interesting theory when you consider the behaviour of parties to a dispute. As a party to many mediations and now a mediator, I have regularly experienced people sitting in a joint session tutting and rolling their eyes when their counterparty is speaking. Given that the usual purpose of mediation is to reach agreement on some level, Cialdini’s theory would suggest this type of behaviour is self-defeating. Rare is the dispute where the parties genuinely like each other, but there might be benefits in channelling more of the inner “good cop”.
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