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About Phyllis Pollack

Phyllis G. Pollack, Esq. the principal of PGP Mediation, has been a mediator in Los Angeles, California since 2000. She has conducted over 2,000 mediations. As an attorney with more than 40 years experience, she utilizes her diverse background to resolve business, commercial, international trade, real estate, employment and lemon law disputes at both the state and federal trial and state appellate court levels. Read more of Phyllis' accomplishments here: https://www.pgpmediation.com/phyllis-g-pollack-biography/

Social Proof

In his book, Influence: Science and Practice (Allyn and Bacon, Boston, 4th ed. 2001), Robert Cialdini lists six weapons of influence. One of them is “social proof,” which, … states that we determine what is correct by finding out what other people think is correct. The principle applies especially to [Read More]

Happiness Leads to Resolution

Yesterday--March 20- marked the twelfth anniversary of the International Day of Happiness. A United Nations Resolution was passed at its 118th plenary meeting on June 28, 2012, declaring March 20th of each year to be the holiday. As one might guess, the Kingdom of Bhutan promoted the resolution, which has [Read More]

By |March 21st, 2025|Research|

The Sound of Silence!

The Sound of Silence is a song written by  and released in 1964  by Simon and Garfunkel. It was used  in the movie, The Graduate. Its lyrics include the phrases: “People talking without speaking, People hearing without listening.” It is the last phrase I want to dwell on: People hearing [Read More]

Laugh A Little (Or a LOT)!

In her book, Talk: The Science of Conversation and The Art of Being Ourselves, Alison Wood Brooks (Crown Books, New York 2025) discusses a depressing statistic in her chapter “L is for Levity”. At age 23, 84 percent of those questioned reported smiling and laughing a lot the day before. [Read More]

By |March 7th, 2025|Research|

Four Questions

To some folks reading the title, it may conjure up the four questions asked by the youngest at the Passover seder. But I am not referring to that at all. A few weeks ago, I tuned into The Hidden Brain podcast while taking a walk. Entitled “We Need to Talk [Read More]

By |February 28th, 2025|Research|

Acive Listening

Once again, I am teaching Employment Dispute Mediation online to students in various professions, including Human Resources, union representatives, teachers, law enforcement, paralegals, etc. As in past classes, Active Listening is an important topic that most of them need to work on. I raise this issue as the Harvard Program [Read More]

By |February 21st, 2025|Research|

Boulwarism

Earlier this week, I was preparing for one of my classes by reading the next chapter in the textbook. Although the chapter discusses basic negotiation strategy, it mentions the term “Boulwarism,” which intrigued me. It is named after General Electric vice president Lemuel Boulware, who used the “take-it-or-leave-it” tactic in [Read More]

By |January 31st, 2025|Negotiation Strategy|
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