Over at the Legal Theory Blog we hear about the publication of Negotiation from a Near and Distant Time Perspective.

Translating from the academic into standard English , Psych Profs Marlone D. Henderson , Yaacov Trope and Peter Carnevale have apparently made the following research findings:

1.  parties are less likely to pursue piecemeal single issue resolutions and more likely to explore integrative, multi-issue solutions to a problem as the amount of time elapsing after a negotiation increases; 

2.  parties show an increased interest in conceding the lowest priority issues, but evidence less interest in conceding the highest priority issues as the amount of time elapsing after the event being negotiated increases; and,

3. parties make more multi-issue offers and are more likely to trade conessions on low priority issues for high priority issues as the amount of time elapsing after the event being negotiated increases.  

I'm happy to read that the article also discusses "implications for conflict resolution and construal level theory" since I don't much understand the three points mentioned above, let alone what "construal level theory" might be.  This is the point at which I mention the fact that I've earned not only my J.D., but also my LL.M.

Note to academics.  It's actually easier to write the way you speak.  And who knows, you might get some cross-disciplinary interest from outside the academy (the real world) if you try to make your work accessible to the rest of us poorly educated citizens. 

Remember that one of the smartest men in the world, physicist Stephen Hawking had this to say about time -- "it's what keeps everything from happening at once."