Hitting Back 

Marjorie Corman Aaron 

This simulation is intended to focus mediators on “core emotional concerns” that might have been triggered in the parties – a parent and their child’s teacher. It references the “core concerns model” outlined in Fisher and Shapiro’s Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate (Penguin 2006), adapted to a mediation context. The teaching point is that when practicing “active listening,” a mediator is wise to target paraphrastic restatements to the core concerns they hear in the parties’ situation or statement.

Hitting Back Mediation: Teaching Note (PDF)

Hitting Back Mediation: Confidential Information for Emily’s Parent, Pat Parker (PDF)

Hitting Back Mediation: Confidential Information for Teacher, Chris Cooper (PDF)

Client Science: Chapter 4 (PDF)