Unlocking integrative potential: Expressed emotional ambivalence and negotiation outcomes

This paper examines how one negotiator’s expressed emotional ambivalence can foster integrative outcomes. Study 1 demonstrated that observing a negotiation partner’s emotional ambivalence leads negotiators to come up with more integrative agreements. Study 2 examined a proposed mechanism: Expressed ambivalence leads to an increased perceived ability to influence the ambivalent negotiator because it suggests submissiveness. Study 3 demonstrated that perceived submissiveness mediates the effects of observed emotional ambivalence on integrative agreements. Implications of these findings for negotiation and emotions research, and directions for future research, are discussed.

[1]  P. Ekman.  Facial expression and emotion. , 1993, The American psychologist.

[2]  Christina T. Fong,et al.  Dueling Experiences and Dual Ambivalences: Emotional and Motivational Ambivalence of Women in High Status Positions , 2002 .

[3]  Kim,et al.  Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate, and settlement , 1986 .

[4]  Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks,et al.  Emotional Aperture and Strategic Change: The Accurate Recognition of Collective Emotions , 2009, Organ. Sci..

[5]  Gerben A. van Kleef,et al.  The Interpersonal Effects of Anger and Happiness on Negotiation Behavior and Outcomes , 2003 .

[6]  Leigh Thompson,et al.  Some Like It Hot: The Case for the Emotional Negotiator , 1999 .

[7]  Jin Nam Choi,et al.  The effects of self-emotion, counterpart emotion, and counterpart behavior on negotiator behavior: a comparison of individual-level and dyad-level dynamics , 2005 .

[8]  D. Keltner,et al.  Functional Accounts of Emotions , 1999 .

[9]  L. Tiedens,et al.  Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: the effect of negative emotion expressions on social status conferral. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  D. Levine,et al.  A neuropsychological theory of positive affect and its influence on cognition. , 1999, Psychological review.

[11]  R. Walton,et al.  A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations. , 1966 .

[12]  L. Thompson,et al.  Affect from the top down: How powerful individuals' positive affect shapes negotiations , 2004 .

[13]  K. Scherer,et al.  Are facial expressions of emotion produced by categorical affect programs or dynamically driven by appraisal? , 2007, Emotion.

[14]  Terri R. Kurtzberg,et al.  Long and Short Routes to Success in Electronically Mediated Negotiations: Group Affiliations and Good Vibrations. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[15]  Steven L. Neuberg,et al.  Reinterpreting the empathy-altruism relationship: when one into one equals oneness. , 1997, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[16]  J. Rubin,et al.  The social psychology of bargaining and negotiation , 1975 .

[17]  Jennifer S. Beer,et al.  Facial expression of emotion. , 2003 .

[18]  K. Karasawa.  Anger vs Guilt: Inference of Responsibility Attribution and Interpersonal Reactions , 2001, Psychological reports.

[19]  Joseph P. Forgas,et al.  On feeling good and getting your way: mood effects on negotiator cognition and bargaining strategies. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[20]  K. Scherer,et al.  Vocal expression of emotion. , 2003 .

[21]  Jeanne C. Watson,et al.  How and When Does Emotional Expression Help? , 2001 .

[22]  L. Tiedens,et al.  Get mad and get more than even : When and why anger expression is effective in negotiations , 2006 .

[23]  Julie B. Sincoff,et al.  The psychological characteristics of ambivalent people , 1990 .

[24]  Kristopher J Preacher,et al.  Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models , 2008, Behavior research methods.

[25]  K. Scherer,et al.  Multimodal expression of emotion: affect programs or componential appraisal patterns? , 2007, Emotion.

[26]  D B Givens,et al.  The nonverbal basis of attraction: flirtation, courtship, and seduction. , 1978, Psychiatry.

[27]  Sarah L. Sladek.  The New Recruit , 2007 .

[28]  Madan M. Pillutla,et al.  Unfairness, Anger, and Spite: Emotional Rejections of Ultimatum Offers , 1996 .

[29]  B. Mesquita,et al.  The social roles and functions of emotions , 1994 .

[30]  D. Keltner,et al.  Social Functions of Emotions at Four Levels of Analysis , 1999 .

[31]  Craig C. Lundberg,et al.  Power and politics in organizations , 1980 .

[32]  Jonathon D. Brown,et al.  Understanding the Better Than Average Effect , 2012, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[33]  D. Keltner,et al.  Power, Distress, and Compassion Turning a Blind Eye to the Suffering of Others , 2008 .

[34]  K. Scherer,et al.  Cues and channels in emotion recognition. , 1986 .

[35]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  The interpersonal effects of emotions in negotiations: a motivated information processing approach. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[36]  C. Batson,et al.  Distress and empathy: two qualitatively distinct vicarious emotions with different motivational consequences. , 1987, Journal of personality.

[37]  Keith G. Allred,et al.  The Influence of Anger and Compassion on Negotiation Performance , 1997 .

[38]  Sigal G. Barsade.  The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion and its Influence on Group Behavior , 2002 .

[39]  Percy H. Tannenbaum,et al.  Emotional experiences in everyday life: A survey approach , 1986 .

[40]  R. Kleck,et al.  Perceived Gaze Direction and the Processing of Facial Displays of Emotion , 2003, Psychological science.

[41]  L. Thompson,et al.  An Examination of Naive and Experienced Negotiators , 1990 .

[42]  Batia M. Wiesenfeld,et al.  Chapter 11 The Social Consequences of Expressing Emotional Ambivalence in Groups and Teams , 2007 .

[43]  Jeff T. Larsen,et al.  Can people feel happy and sad at the same time? , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[44]  A. Manstead,et al.  An interpersonal approach to emotion in social decision making: the emotions as social information model , 2010 .

[45]  Phoebe C. Ellsworth,et al.  Sentimental Stereotypes: Emotional Expectations for High-and Low-Status Group Members , 2000 .

[46]  Jennifer Aaker,et al.  Recalling Mixed Emotions , 2008 .

[47]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Affect and Creativity at Work , 2005 .

[48]  M. Clark,et al.  Some thoughts and findings on self-presentation of emotions in relationships. , 1996 .

[49]  Caroline A. Bartel,et al.  The Collective Construction of Work Group Moods , 2000 .

[50]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  Motivated information processing, strategic choice, and the quality of negotiated agreement. , 2006, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[51]  R. Gunderman,et al.  Emotional intelligence. , 2011, Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR.

[52]  H. Wallbott.  Bodily expression of emotion , 1998 .

[53]  L. Thompson,et al.  «They saw a negotiation»: partisanship and involvement , 1995 .

[54]  J. S. Wiggins,et al.  Psychometric and Geometric Characteristics of the Revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales (IAS-R). , 1988, Multivariate behavioral research.

[55]  R. R. Reno,et al.  Relation of sympathy and personal distress to prosocial behavior: a multimethod study. , 1989, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[56]  Robert A. Baron,et al.  Environmentally Induced Positive Affect: Its Impact on Self‐Efficacy, Task Performance, Negotiation, and Conflict1 , 1990 .

[57]  Naomi B Rothman,et al.  Steering sheep: How expressed emotional ambivalence elicits dominance in interdependent decision making contexts , 2011 .

[58]  D. G. Pruitt,et al.  Development of integrative solutions in bilateral negotiation. , 1975 .

[59]  Christina T. Fong,et al.  The effects of emotional ambivalence on creativity , 2003 .

[60]  D. Keltner,et al.  Touch communicates distinct emotions. , 2006, Emotion.

[61]  G. A. Kleef,et al.  How Emotions Regulate Social Life , 2009 .

[62]  K. Scherer,et al.  Bodily expression of emotion , 2009 .

[63]  A. Tenbrunsel,et al.  Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 2013 .

[64]  Jeff T. Larsen,et al.  The Agony of Victory and Thrill of Defeat , 2004, Psychological science.

[65]  Daniel Druckman,et al.  Determinants of Compromising Behavior in Negotiation , 1994 .

[66]  H. Kelley,et al.  Negotiating the division of a reward under incomplete information , 1967 .

[67]  P. Ekman,et al.  What the face reveals : basic and applied studies of spontaneous expression using the facial action coding system (FACS) , 2005 .

[68]  P. Carnevale,et al.  Social values and social conflict in creative problem solving and categorization. , 1998 .

[69]  Elizabeth Newton,et al.  Self-Enhancement Biases and Negotiator Judgment: Effects of Self-Esteem and Mood , 1993 .

[70]  Hillary Anger Elfenbein,et al.  Reading your Counterpart: The Benefit of Emotion Recognition Accuracy for Effectiveness in Negotiation , 2006 .

[71]  Benson Rosen,et al.  Emotions in Negotiation: How to Manage Fear and Anger , 1998 .

[72]  J. Riskind.  They stoop to conquer: Guiding and self-regulatory functions of physical posture after success and failure. , 1984 .

[73]  Davide Pietroni,et al.  Emotions as strategic information: Effects of other’s emotional expressions on fixed-pie perception, demands, and integrative behavior in negotiation , 2008 .

[74]  Gregory B. Northcraft,et al.  Chapter 7 Beyond Valence: Effects of Group Emotional Tone on Group Negotiation Behaviors and Outcomes , 2011 .

[75]  J. Wilce.  Language and Emotion , 2009 .

[76]  C. D. De Dreu,et al.  Influence of social motives on integrative negotiation: a meta-analytic review and test of two theories. , 2000, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[77]  A. Isen,et al.  The Influence of Positive Affect and Visual Access on the Discovery of Integrative Solutions in Bilateral Negotiation , 1986 .

[78]  B. Knutson.  Facial expressions of emotion influence interpersonal trait inferences , 1996 .

[79]  P. Gosselin,et al.  Components and recognition of facial expression in the communication of emotion by actors. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[80]  K. Oatley,et al.  Human emotions: function and dysfunction. , 1992, Annual review of psychology.

[81]  A. Kruglanski,et al.  Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. , 1994, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[82]  J. Laird,et al.  Emotion-Specific Effects of Facial Expressions and Postures on Emotional Experience , 1989 .

[83]  C. Darwin.  The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals , .

[84]  G. A. Kleef,et al.  I laughed, I cried, I settled: The role of emotions in negotiation , 2004 .

[85]  Joe C. Magee.  Seeing power in action: The roles of deliberation, implementation, and action in inferences of power , 2009 .

[86]  J B Sincoff,et al.  Ambivalence and defense: effects of a repressive style on normal adolescents' and young adults' mixed feelings. , 1992, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[87]  S. Fiske,et al.  The Handbook of Social Psychology , 1935 .

[88]  L. Thompson,et al.  The three faces of Eve: Strategic displays of positive, negative, and neutral emotions in negotiations. , 2006 .

[89]  R. Baron,et al.  Toward an Ecological Theory of Social Perception , 1983 .

[90]  Michael G. Pratt,et al.  Ambivalent Feelings in Organizational Relationships , 2000 .

[91]  N. Ambady,et al.  Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis. , 1992 .

[92]  D. Keltner,et al.  How Emotions Work: The Social Functions of Emotional Expression in Negotiations , 2000 .

[93]  W. Ickes.  Empathic Accuracy , 2005 .

[94]  C. Gallois.  The Language and Communication of Emotion , 1993 .

[95]  P. Bó.  Cooperation under the Shadow of the Future: Experimental Evidence from Infinitely Repeated Games , 2005 .

[96]  Shlomo Hareli,et al.  Emotion cycles: On the social influence of emotion in organizations , 2008 .

[97]  Gert‐Jan Lelieveld,et al.  Why Anger and Disappointment Affect Other’s Bargaining Behavior Differently , 2012, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[98]  Alan J. Fridlund,et al.  The behavioral ecology and sociality of human faces. , 1992 .