Rationality with reservations

The Dean of the School of Law, Professor Martin Burgi, invites you to an event featuring Udo Wachtveitl ( actor), Mark von Seydlitz (filmmaker, actor, and media trainer), and Martin Nimbach (neuroscientist).

Legal decisions are generally considered rational, objective, and controlled. However, neuroscientific research shows that perception, evaluation, and decision-making are significantly influenced by neurobiological processes that occur prior to conscious thought. Stress, emotional priming, and perceptions of status and control determine whether arguments are processed at all.

This Lecture the neurobiological foundations of legal decision-making and negotiations. The focus is on key brain networks, their role in risk assessment, conflict resolution, and decision stability, as well as the conditions under which rational thinking remains possible. Using typical legal decision-making situations, the lecture demonstrates why arguments alone are often insufficient—and which neurobiological conditions facilitate understanding. This is illustrated live using selected communication and negotiation techniques.

In conclusion, Udo Wachveitl discusses storytelling, manipulative negotiation strategies, and how they work, as well as how to recognize them and where their limits lie.