Hostage Situation One of the Thesis

A psychologist should never solicit demands from the hostage-taker as this will give the hostage-taker an increased sense of power -- something that should be avoided at all costs (Hatcher etal, 1998, p. 460). Rather a psychologist should wait for the hostage-taker to make demands. Once demands are made, the psychologist (or anyone else talking with the hostage-taker) should never dismiss the demands as unreasonable, impossible, or trivial. These demands are important to the hostage-taker and to dismiss his or her demands will in all likelihood be seen as a dismissal of the person and so cause the situation to escalate. The process of meeting a hostage-taker's demands is also one that can allow for an alliance to be built up over time between a psychologist and the hostage-taker, especially if the psychologist can break down negotiations into their component parts -- such as first negotiating that food will be provided, then negotiating what kind of food, then negotiating who will deliver the food, etc. All of this promotes dialogue, and dialogue takes time, and time allows in most cases for positive results.References

Borum, W.R. (October 1988). A comparative study of negotiator effectiveness with "Mentally disturbed hostage taker scenarios." Journal of police and criminal psychology4(2): 17-20.

Hatcher, C. etal. (December 1998). The role of the psychologist in crisis/hostage negotiations. Behavioral sciences and the law 16(4): 455-472.

Lipsedge, M. (2004). Hostage-taking and domestic sieges. Psychiatry 3 (8): 24-26.

McMains, M. & Mullins, W. (2006). Crisis Negotiations: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections. Cincinnati: Anderson Publishing….....