Unconscious Assumptions and Biases in Mediation

Underlying every stage of the mediation process are hidden assumptions and biases which often go unexamined:

• Settlement negotiations should focus on objective criteria and outcome predictions
• Participants are rational actors looking out for their own economic interests
• Mediators should persuade, cajole, argue, twist arms, etc. in the same way regardless of a person’s sex, race, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or other characteristics
• It is not the job of the mediator to call out prejudice or bias in the mediation

Experienced mediators and users of mediation will share how to understand these and other common assumptions and implicit biases about the mediation process and to explore bias-reducing strategies.

• Shirish Gupta
• Howard A. Herman
• Stephen H. Sulmeyer, J.D., Ph.D.