The Interpersonal Effects of Emotions in Negotiations
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, Vol. 87, No. 4, 510 –528
Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association 0022-3514/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.87.4.510
The Interpersonal Effects of Emotions in Negotiations: A Motivated Information Processing Approach
Gerben A. Van Kleef and Carsten K. W. De Dreu
University of Amsterdam
Antony S. R. Manstead
University of Cambridge
Three experiments tested a motivated information processing account of the interpersonal effects of anger and happiness in negotiations. In Experiment 1, participants received information about the opponent’s emotion (anger, happiness, or none) in a computer-mediated negotiation. As predicted, they conceded more to an angry opponent than to a happy one (controls falling in between), but only when they had a low (rather than a high) need for cognitive closure. Experiment 2 similarly showed that participants were only affected by the other’s emotion under low rather than high time pressure, because time pressure reduced their degree of information processing. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that negotiators were only influenced by their opponent’s emotion if they had low (rather than high) power. These results support the motivated information processing model by showing that negotiators are only affected by their opponent’s emotions if they are motivated to consider them.
Negotiation is one of the most common and constructive ways of dealing with social conflict. It may be defined as the joint decision making between interdependent individuals with divergent interests (Pruitt, 1998). Most of us negotiate on a regular basis, for instance with our spouses about the division of household chores, with our children about how to spend the holidays, and with our students about task assignments in a research project. Although emotions are inherent to negotiation and social conflict (Davidson & Greenhalgh, 1999), and are crucial to understanding how individuals behave
Copyright 2004 by the American Psychological Association 0022-3514/04/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.87.4.510
The Interpersonal Effects of Emotions in Negotiations: A Motivated Information Processing Approach
Gerben A. Van Kleef and Carsten K. W. De Dreu
University of Amsterdam
Antony S. R. Manstead
University of Cambridge
Three experiments tested a motivated information processing account of the interpersonal effects of anger and happiness in negotiations. In Experiment 1, participants received information about the opponent’s emotion (anger, happiness, or none) in a computer-mediated negotiation. As predicted, they conceded more to an angry opponent than to a happy one (controls falling in between), but only when they had a low (rather than a high) need for cognitive closure. Experiment 2 similarly showed that participants were only affected by the other’s emotion under low rather than high time pressure, because time pressure reduced their degree of information processing. Finally, Experiment 3 showed that negotiators were only influenced by their opponent’s emotion if they had low (rather than high) power. These results support the motivated information processing model by showing that negotiators are only affected by their opponent’s emotions if they are motivated to consider them.
Negotiation is one of the most common and constructive ways of dealing with social conflict. It may be defined as the joint decision making between interdependent individuals with divergent interests (Pruitt, 1998). Most of us negotiate on a regular basis, for instance with our spouses about the division of household chores, with our children about how to spend the holidays, and with our students about task assignments in a research project. Although emotions are inherent to negotiation and social conflict (Davidson & Greenhalgh, 1999), and are crucial to understanding how individuals behave