Originally from World Arbitration And Mediation Review (WAMR)

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BEYOND REASON: USING EMOTIONS

TO NEGOTIATE
Reviewed by Nancy A. Welsh∗

In Beyond Reason: Using Emotions to Negotiate, authors Roger Fisher
and Daniel Shapiro (Penguin Books, 2005) argue that negotiators can create
positive emotions in themselves and others while avoiding many negative
emotions by attending to five "core concerns" that serve as the source for
most emotions. In its thesis, Beyond Reason is reminiscent of Getting to
Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Both books grapple with
something that makes negotiations difficult--strongly-held-and-argued
positions in Getting to Yes, strongly-felt-and-expressed emotions in Beyond
Reason--and try to highlight the underlying causes, thus revealing
previously-unidentified paths to resolution.

Beyond Reason may also hold particular appeal for lawyer-negotiators.
Plenty of research shows that many lawyers and law students prefer not to
deal with emotions. Instead, those of us who are attracted to the study of
law prefer to make decisions based on the application of rules and standards.
Rules and standards are solid and predictable, at least in comparison to
emotions, and yet emotions refuse to disappear. They arise in difficult
conversations with clients, fractious negotiations with opposing counsel, and
even troubling negotiations with co-counsel, members of our litigation team,
or our own partners. While unruly emotions are inevitably present at
various points in legal practice, neither the typical lawyer’s personality nor
the traditional law school education prepares lawyers to deal with them.

Beyond Reason is written for those of us who would feel a lot more
comfortable dealing with emotions if we could figure out easilyadministrable
and reliable means to categorize, manage, and respond to
them. Fisher and Shapiro begin by providing us these categories. Despite
the wide and confusing array of human emotions that exist, they urge that
most emotions can be traced to the satisfaction or violation of a mere five
core concerns "of personal significance, usually arising within a
relationship." Further, they recommend that negotiators use their awareness