ABSTRACT
There are two main aspects of any mediation. The rst aspect is that mediation is a negotiation process similar to those involved in any business or commercial relationship – the negotiation concepts surrounding that aspect of mediation have been covered earlier. The second aspect of mediation involves the psychological factors surrounding the parties themselves. Whilst discussions heard during a mediation tend to be focused on specic monetary amounts or the actual terms of a settlement, and appear to be based in reason and objective standards, the truth of the matter is that beneath this façade are the underlying psychological aspects which drive the parties, that is, the psychodynamics – the psychological forces that underlie human behaviour, emphasising the interplay between unconscious and conscious motivation and the functional signicance of emotion.
