DESCRIPTION
Serious conflicts between civilians (family members, colleagues, between civilians and government) are highly common in everyday life – sometimes even resulting in criminal behaviors. The literature indicates that mediation (when a professional, neutral mediator helps parties to solve the conflict) is a particularly fruitful manner to de-escalate and settle such serious conflicts compared to when other third parties are involved (e.g. lawyers, judges) or when no third party is involved. It saves costs and time for conflict parties, and offers many psychological benefits, both emotionally (reduced negative emotions, closure) as well as relational (normalization and restoration of relationships) (e.g. Jonas et al., 2022; Kaiser et al., 2022; Lawrence et al., 2007). Despite this positive potential, mediation is still being chosen and used by conflict parties in a minority of cases (Hansen & Umbreit, 2018; Ter Voert & Hoekstra, 2020).
There is potential for mediation to grow as a conflict management practice and have more people experience the beneficial outcomes it can have when they are struggling with serious conflicts. Given the voluntary nature of mediation, an important route to expand the use of mediation is to understand better which conflict parties are open to mediation and will accept it when offered, and which parties will reject it.
In this bachelor thesis project, (psychological) factors that predict whether conflict parties are willing to engage in mediation or not is the key focus. Such factors might be many (personality factors, psychological needs, past experiences). For example, a particularly important factor might be perceived differences in morality between conflict parties. There is evidence that a lower perceived morality of the other party (compared to one’s own high morality) reduces the likelihood of cooperation and increases the chance of negative behavior and expressions to that person (Haslam, 2006; Zebel et al., 2008). When serious conflicts have developed into perceiving the other conflict party as being less moral (honest, trustworthy) than oneself, this may lower then also the willingness to participate in mediation.
Type of Research
Experimental and quasi-experimental studies. One option for example is to conduct an experimental study online or in the lab, in which participants are led to experience a simulated conflict with another party, and are then offered the possibility to participate in a mediation process to resolve the conflict. Features of the simulated conflict might be manipulated experimentally, for example the level of escalation of the conflict or the type of conflict (e.g. labor dispute, consumer conflict, crime). Outcome measures might be the perceived degree of morality of the other person versus on own’s morality, as well as the willingness to participate in mediation to solve this conflict.
Another potential option is to conduct a quasi-experimental, autobiographical study in which people are first asked to recollect a serious conflict from their own life. Through additional instructions and manipulations, psychological factors might then be manipulated experimentally to see whether they affect people’s willingness to engage in mediation with this other conflict party.
INFORMATION
Please contact Lynn Weiher (l.weiher@utwente.nl) when you are interested in this assignment. The assignment is open to two students.
LITERATURE
Hansen, T. & Umbreit, M. (2018). State of knowledge: Four decades of victim-offender mediation research and practice: the evidence. Conflict Resolution Quarterly, 36(2): 99–113. Doi: 10.1002/crq.21234.
Haslam, N. (2006). Dehumanization: An integrative review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 252–264.
Jonas-van Dijk, J. , Zebel, S., Claessen, J., & Nelen, H. (2022). The psychological impact of participation in victim-offender mediation on offenders: Evidence for increased compunction and victim empathy. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, article 812629, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.812629
Kaiser, P., Gabler, A. M., Lehmann, F. (2022). Qualities and long-term effects of mediation. University of Vechta, Germany. Kaiser_Gabler_Lehmann_2022_Qualities_and_Long-Term_Effects_of_Mediation.pdf (uni-vechta.de)
Lawrence, A., Nugent, J., & Scarfone, C. (2007). The Effectiveness of Using Mediation in Selected Civil Law Disputes: A Meta-Analysis. Canada: Department of Justice. https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/csj-sjc/jsp-sjp/rr07_3/rr07_3.pdf
Ter Voert, M. J., & Hoekstra, M. S. (2020). Geschilbeslechtingsdelta 2019: Over verloop en afloop van (potentieel) juridische problemen van burgers. Den Haag: WODC. Cahier 2020-18
Zebel, S., Zimmermann, A., Viki, G. T., & Doosje, B. (2008). Dehumanization and guilt as related but distinct predictors of support for reparation policies. Political Psychology, 29, 193-219.