Calming Upset People with Ear: How Statements Showing Empathy, Attention, and Respect Can Quickly Defuse a Conflict

The level of stress and conflict in today's world is higher than seen in decades. We all can use tools for managing the emotions this has caused. At the same time, there also appear to be more high conflict people who are preoccupied with blaming others and verbally venting or attacking those around them.

Yet, these upset emotions and conflicts can often be calmed immediately through the use of a simple EAR Statement(TM), a method of verbal communication developed and refined by Bill Eddy of the High Conflict Institute over the past fifteen years and taught to hundreds of thousands of professionals and individuals.

Following on the success of his widely-known BIFF Response(R) method and books for written communication, this new book will come in handy when interacting in-person in all kinds of upset situations: family conflicts, workplace disputes, neighbor controversies, angry customers, clients and patients; and any other setting.

A simple statement communicating empathy, attention and/or respect to an angry, sad, mentally ill, or other upset person at any time can work wonders in minutes. Yet it's not as easy as it looks. It takes practice and this book gives over twenty examples of applying this method in families, communities, customer relations, workplace, political discussions, business, police encounters, racial conflicts, schools, mental health settings, and others.

Empathy, attention and respect are what all people are looking for, especially when upset or in a conflict. This book will give you the details of how to calm upset people with EAR every day. Words matter.

About author(s):

Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. is High Conflict Institute's co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and has become an expert on managing disputes involving people with high conflict personalities. He was the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center for 15 years, a Certified Family Law Specialist lawyer representing clients in family court for 15 years, and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker therapist with twelve year's experience. He serves on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law in California and is a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia. He has been a keynote speaker and trainer in over 30 U.S. states and 10 countries. In addition to authoring over twenty books, he writes a popular blog on PsychologyToday.com with over five million views.