Chapter 11, Discussion 1

Communication majors should make good mediators because we investigate deeper into the "how" and "why" of communication, and do not simply focus on the "what." Communication majors are able to demonstrate how to extract a message from a given context, and examine the less-obvious and implied meanings beyond the words being said. This discipline also teaches the importance of taking the physical forms of communication into consideration when sending and receiving messages. Nonverbal communication reveals a great deal of information, and is just as important as verbal communication. We can further analyze a situation in a way that can be more beneficial to both parties in need of a mediator, because being more informed on an issue, and considering the physical and social context, can lead to a more accurate and effective resolution.

Lawyers and psychotherapists might find it difficult to effectively play the role of mediator because they tend to be advocates for one side or the other and have personal bias. Lawyers approach mediatory issues as they would litigation using confrontational techniques and taking one party’s side over another. Also, a mediator should encourage cooperative communication behavior rather than competitive. A lawyer’s job is to create a “winner” by getting a judge and jury on his/her party’s side of a given case. Mediation requires neutrality. This is why it would also be difficult for a psychotherapist to be a mediator, because mediators must “demonstrate their neutrality by equalizing the speaking time, giving the same amount of speaking time and attention to both parties, and not spending time alone with one of the parties without spending the same amount of time with the other during the mediation” (p. 197). A psychotherapist typically spends time alone with clients, and will likely offer his/her services if needed by either party without focusing on the equality between the two. Should one party request more time with the psychotherapist than the other, he/she is receiving more alone time and attention, and getting more speaking time. These two careers produce some sort of bias toward one party or the other, which would make an impartial and/or impersonal mediation much more difficult.