Recapping SW&CR: Jedi as Master Manipulators (Ch. 15)

Chapter 15: “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For”: Mind Tricks and Manipulation in Conflict (C. Scott Maravilla)

The Jedi mind trick (JMT) is first used in an iconic scene in A New Hope: as Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi enter Mos Eisley, they are stopped by several stormtroopers. Luke attempts to lie to get through, but Kenobi’s use of JMT ultimately gets the sandspeeder through the checkpoint. JMT is used at various points in the series: Rey, Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, and Yoda are just a few of the Jedi and Sith that utilize this technique.

In terms of negotiation techniques, the JMT is an extremely competitive strategy. Using the Jedi mind trick (often on “weak-minded” individuals) is an attempt by the user to achieve maximum benefit for themselves with no thought given to the other person’s outcome or the future relationship. In our world, negotiators do not have this method available, but they are able to utilize an array of similarly manipulative tactics. Much like JMT, hardball tactics do not have a perfect success rate, so the user must use tact and care. Examples of such hardball tactics include bluffing, making threats, insulting the other party, being silent, or taking an extreme position and not making any concessions or making inconsequential concessions.

Negotiators who want to utilize hardball tactics should take care to remain within legal boundaries, although these boundaries may be fuzzy due to the law’s typically hands-off approach to negotiations. Maravilla suggests three considerations before utilizing hardball tactics in negotiations: whether such tactic is ethical, whether the tactic will be effective, and what the potential negative repercussions are (for example, damaged reputation or loss of trust). Also important are methods for resisting hardball tactics when they are used against you, including calling out the behavior, using the same tactics against the other party, and giving the negotiation a new context (“framing”).

Ultimately, the user of either Jedi mind tricks or hardball negotiation strategies would do well to consider whether there are other methods available before resorting to such extreme measures and not resort to such tactics merely as a knee-jerk response.

— Written by Sarah Takessian, SW&CR Padawan and 3L at the University of Oregon School of Law