"Resolving a dispute at the lowest possible level of formality saves time and money."

"Resolving a conflict at the lowest possible level of formality saves time and money". So says Esther Linares, a researcher at project InMedio of the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra, a pioneering initiative to analyze the most effective verbal and nonverbal strategies in informal mediation.

"Conflict is part of the way we relate to each other and in itself is not negative," he stresses. The bad thing, in his opinion, is how it is managed. "If we manage it well, we won't need the intervention of third parties". Thus, in informal contexts, he advocates "transformative mediation" in which only "our own elements" intervene, so that those who have disagreements can resolve them without external financial aid .

From agreement with the expert, in everyday life conflicts occur continuously "while other relational activities with our partner, children, friends..." and this is where this mediation subject emerges to soften them. One of the main verbal tools, she says, is attenuation: "Metaphors, diminutives, phrases with suspended intonation, paraphrasing and rephrasing help to mitigate our words". 

Another core topic is the questions, because the fact that someone raises a question related to the dispute "financial aid to express themselves and reduce the emotion," he says. In addition," he adds, "a common space is created to foster understanding between the two perspectives.

Rebuilding ties

According to Esther Linares, the ability to mediate does not require extraordinary skills and is based on one's own reflexivity: "Everyone can think about what to do or say at each status to calm things down: stopping to ask what is going on, using humour or an anecdote, giving a look, establishing a physical contact ...". 

The researcher emphasises the importance of bonds in mediation, since, in her opinion, it is not only about reaching a agreement to resolve a transaction, but there is a social aim of "rebuilding the bonds that have been affected''. He points out that one of the main obstacles to the process is that "the interpersonal relationship with the other person is not important, that only a benefit is sought".

Throughout this course, the project InMedio of the group 'Emotional culture and identity' has focused on the interdisciplinary study of aspects such as the importance of power, the role of emotions, the latent disagreements that influence the dispute and the participation of the mediator. Once the theoretical basis has been established, the next step will be to create a corpus of semi-spontaneous conversations that will be recorded from the next academic year at the Simulation Centre of the University of Navarra. 

goal "We will look at the rhetorical-discursive strategies that are most commonly used in mediation, with the aim of creating a model that can be applied in any context," says Linares. The analysis will help determine whether previous research on formal mediation can also be applied to informal contexts.