People problems, Fisher, Ury and Patton observe, tend to involve problems of perception, emotion, and communication.
Perceptions are important because they define the problem and the solution.
When different parties have different understandings of their dispute effective negotiation may be very difficult to achieve. Fisher, Ury and Patton suggest seven basic strategies for handling problems of perception. These emotions get intertwined with the substantive issues in the dispute and make both harder to deal with. Fisher, Ury and Patton suggest five tactics for disentangling and defusing emotional problems in the negotiation process. They list three types of communication problems.