Effect of Cooperation on Egocentrism in Divorce Mediation - A Simulation Study (From Divorce Mediation - Perspectives on the Field, P 151-165, 1985, Craig A Everett, ed. - See NCJ-104076)

• NCJ Number: 104084
• Author(s): S M Worley; A I Schwebel
• Date Published: 1985
• Length: 15 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Press, Inc
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In the past several years practitioners have been increasingly employing mediation as a vehicle for achieving resolution of interpersonal as well as interorganizational conflicts.

Abstract

The need to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of these mediation interventions has promoted research interest in this area. The present study examines one type of mediation, that designed to assist divorcing parties. Subject's levels of egocentrism were assessed before and after they experienced either a high cooperation or low cooperation experimental manipulation, designed to simulate the adversarial divorce and mediated divorce, respectively. Measures of egocentrism and problem-solving efficiency indicated that subjects in the low-cooperation condition were more likely to exhibit egocentric functioning after the manipulation than were their counterparts in the high cooperation condition. It was also found that the high cooperation subjects showed a a generalization of cooperativeness from the manipulation to the problem-solving task which followed it. The implications of these findings for practitioners and researchers with interests in mediation are discussed. (Publisher abstract)