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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/

Certainty Does Not Equate to Accuracy!

In the past, I have discussed studies on the unreliability of witness identification of suspects in criminal proceedings. On May 27, 2021, the California Supreme Court acknowledged that while a witness may have a high degree of certainty with which she identifies a suspect as the culprit, a jury should [Read More]

By |June 25th, 2021|Court Cases|

Noise Is Not Just Noise!

In a recent post, I discussed the distinction between "noise" and "bias" as noted in the new book, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment (Hachette Book Group, New York 2021)  by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein.   Although somewhat intense reading, I managed to finish it and realized [Read More]

By |June 18th, 2021|Research|

It’s Tough Being a Woman!

Two recent studies discussed in Katie Shonk's Harvard PONS blog Challenges Facing Women Negotiators (June 1, 2021) confirm what I have long suspected: it is tough being a woman negotiator. Or more bluntly, any given negotiation scenario is biased against women when men are involved. ("Blog") The first study by [Read More]

By |June 11th, 2021|Research|

“Tripping Over the Truth”

  I recently finished reading The Power of Moments by Chip Heath and Dan Heath (Simon &Schuster, New York 2017) for an upcoming book club discussion. The authors note that we spend the bulk of our lives living forgettable moments. Yet, every once in a while, we have a moment [Read More]

By |June 4th, 2021|Research|

“Noise” is not Bias!

I learned a new term recently: noise. Not “noise” as in a room full of people talking loudly, but “noise” as opposed to “bias”.  Whereas “bias” is defined as errors in judgement, “noise” is defined as “the random errors that create decision risk and uncertainty.” ( Noise Versus Bias- We [Read More]

By |May 28th, 2021|Research|

Imbalance of Power!

Implicit in every negotiation is the question of who holds the power?   “Power” is the “… respective abilit[y] of each person in the relationship to influence each other and to direct the relationship.” (bigthink.com) This balance of power does not remain in the same person throughout the negotiation. It will [Read More]

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