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Perception, Cognition, and Emotion

PERCEPTION
-Perception is the process by which individuals connect to their environment. The process of ascribing meaning to messages and events is strongly influenced by the perceiver’s current state of mind, role, and comprehension of earlier communications.

The Perceptual Process
Stimulus-->Attention-->Recognition-->Translation-->Behavior
Perception (words in bold)

-Perceptual Distortion is the perceiver’s own needs, desires, motivations, and personal experiences may create a predisposition about the other party. This is cause for concern when it leads to biases and errors in perception and subsequent communication.

4 major perceptual errors:
1. Stereotyping
2. Halo effects
3. Selective perception
4. Projection

Stereotyping and halo effects are examples of perceptual distortion by generalization: small amounts of perceptual information are used to draw large conclusions about individuals.

Selective perception and projection are, in contrast, forms of distortion that involve anticipating certain attributes and qualities in another person. The perceiver filters and distorts information to arrive at a consistent view.

1. Stereotyping: it occurs when one individual assigns attributes to another solely on the basis of the other’s membership in a particular social or demographic category. For example, males or females, religions, or sexual orientations.
2. Halo effects: it occur when people generalize about a variety of attributes based on the knowledge of one attribute of an individual.
3. Selective perception: it occurs when the perceiver singles out certain information that supports or reinforces a prior belief and filters out information that does not confirm that belief.
4. Projection: it occurs when people assign to others the characteristics or feelings that they possess themselves.

FRAMING
-A frame is the subjective mechanism through which people evaluate and make sense out of situations, leading them to pursue or avoid subsequent actions.
-Frames are important in negotiation because “people can encounter the same dispute and perceive it in very different ways as a result of their backgrounds, professional training or past experiences.”

Types of Frames
1. Substantive-what the conflict is about. Parties taking a substantive frame have a particular disposition about the key issue or concern in the conflict.
2. Outcome-a party’s predisposition to achieving a specific result or outcome from the negotiation. To the degree that a negotiator has a specific, preferred outcome he or she wants to achieve, the dominant frame may be to focus all strategy, tactics, and communication toward getting that outcome. Parties who have a strong outcome frame are more likely to engage primarily in distributive negotiations than in other types of negotiations.
3. Aspiration-a predisposition toward satisfying a broader set of interests or needs in negotiation. Rather than focusing on a specific outcome, the negotiator tries to unsure that his or her basic interests, needs, and concerns are met. Parties who have a strong aspiration frame are more likely to be primarily engaged in integrative negotiation than in other types.
4. Process-how the parties will go about resolving their dispute. Negotiators who have a strong process frame are less likely than others to be concerned about the specific negotiation issues but more concerned about how the deliberations will proceed, or how the dispute should be managed. When the major concerns are largely procedural rather than substantive, process frames will be strong.
5. Identity-how the parties define “who they are.” Parties are members of a number of different social groups-gender, religion, ethnic origin, place of birth, current place of residence, and the like. These are only a few of the categories people can use to define themselves and distinguish themselves from others.
6. Characterization-how the parties define the other parties. A characterization frame can clearly be shaped by experience with the other party, by information about the other party’s history or reputation, or by the way the other party comes across early in the negotiation experience. In conflict, identity frames tend to be positive; characterization frames tend to be negative.
7. Loss-gain—how the parties define the risk or reward associated with particular outcomes. For example, a buyer in a sales negotiation can view the transaction in loss terms (the monetary cost of the purchase) or in gain terms (the value of the item).

How Frames Work in Negotiation
1. Negotiators can use more than one frame.
2. Mismatches in frames between parties are sources of conflict.
3. Particular types of frames may lead to particular types of agreements.
4. Specific frames may be likely to be used with certain types of issues.
5. Parties are likely to assume a particular frame because of various factors.

Another Approach to Frames: Interests, Rights, and Power
-Interests. People are often concerned about what they need, desire, or want.
-Rights. People may also be concerned about who is “right”—that is, who has legitimacy, who is correct, or what is fair.
-Power. People may wish to resolve a negotiation on the basis of power. Negotiations resolved by power are sometimes based on who is physically stronger or is able to coerce the other, but more often, it is about imposing other types of costs—economic pressures, expertise, legitimate authority, and so on.

The Frame of an Issue Changes as the Negotiation Evolves
1. Negotiators tend to argue for stock issues, or concerns that are raised every time the parties negotiate.
2. Each party attempts to make the best possible case for his or her preferred position or perspective.
3. Frames may define major shifts and transitions in a complex overall negotiation.
4. Finally, multiple agenda items operate to shape issue development.

COGNITIVE BIASES in NEGOTIATION

-Errors when negotiators process information:
1. Irrational Escalation of Commitment
2. Mythical Fixed-Pie Beliefs
3. Anchoring and Adjustment
4. Issue Framing and Risk
5. Availability of Information
6. The Winner’s Curse
7. Overconfidence
8. The Law of Small Numbers
9. Self-Serving Biases
10. Endowment Effect
11. Ignoring Others’ Cognitions
12. Reactive Devaluation

MOOD, EMOTION, AND NEGOTIAION

-Negotiations Create Both Positive and Negative Emotions

-Positive Emotions Generally have Positive Consequences for Negotiations Positive emotions can lead to these consequences:
Positive feelings are more likely to lead the parties toward more integrative processes.
Positive feelings also create a positive attitude toward the other side.
Positive feelings promote persistence.

-Aspects of the Negotiation Process can Lead to Positive Emotions
Positive feelings result from fair procedures during negotiation.
Positive feelings result from favorable social comparisons.

-Negative Emotions Generally Have Negative Consequences for Negotiations
Negative emotions may lead parties to define the situation as competitive or distributive.
Negative emotions may undermine a negotiator’s ability to analyze the situation accurately, which adversely affects individual outcomes.
Negative emotions may lead parties to escalate the conflict.
Negative emotions may lead parties to retaliate and may thwart integrative outcomes.

-Aspects of the Negotiation Process Can Lead to Negative Emotions
Negative emotions may result from a competitive mindset.
Negative emotions may result from impasse.

-The Effects of Positive and Negative Emotion in Negotiation

Positive feelings may have negative consequences.
Negative feelings may create positive outcomes.

-Emotions Can be Used Strategically as Negotiation Gambits

By Charles, Ivan, Linda and Vivian

Communication

What Is Communicated during Negotiation?

1. Offers, Counteroffers, and Motives
The communication of offers is a dynamic process (e.g., the offers change or shift over time)
The offer process is interactive (bargainers influence each other)
Various internal and external factors (e.g., time limitations, reciprocity norms, alternatives, constituency pressures) drive the interaction and “motivate a bargainer to change his or her offer.”

2. Information about Alternatives
BATNA changes several things in negotiation
Compared to negotiators without attractive BATNAs, negotiators with attractive BATNAs set higher reservation prices for themselves than their counterparts did
Negotiators whose counterparts had attractive BATNAs set lower reservation points for themselves
When both parties were aware of the attractive BATNA that one of the negotiators had, that negotiator received a more positive negotiation outcome
3. Information about Outcomes
The Effects of Sharing Different Types of Information on Negotiators’ Evaluation of Success.
If they found out that the negotiators had done better, or was simply pleased with his or her outcome, then negotiators felt less positive about their own outcome
If they learn that the other party did relatively poorly, they are less satisfied with the outcome than when they have no comparison information.
Negotiators should be cautions about sharing their outcomes or even their positive reactions to outcomes with the other party, especially if they are going to negotiate with that party again in the future

4. Social Accounts
Three important types of explanations:
Explanations of mitigating circumstances, where negotiators suggest that they had no choice in talking the positions they did
Explanations of exonerating circumstances, where negotiators explain their positions from a broader perspective, suggesting that while their current position may appear negative, it derives from positive motives (e.g., an honest mistake)
Reframing explanations, where outcomes can be explained by changing the context (e.g., short-term pain for long-term gain).

5. Communication about Process
Some communication is about the negotiation process itself---how well it is going or what procedures might be adopted to improve the situation. (e.g., some communication strategies in negotiation are used to halt conflict spirals that might otherwise lead to impasse or less-than-ideal outcomes).

How People Communicate in Negotiation
1. Use of Language
Language operates at two levels:
Logical (for proposals or offers)
Pragmatic (semantics, syntax, and style)
2. Use of Nonverbal Communication
Make Eye Contact
Adjust Body Position
Nonverbally Encourage or Discourage What the Other Says
3. Selection of a Communication Channel
Social presence
E-mail

Top Ten Rules for Virtual Negotiation
1) Take steps to create a face-to-face relationship before negotiation, or early on, so that there is a face or voice behind the e-mail.
2) Be explicit about the normative process to be followed during the negotiation.
3) If others are present in a virtual negotiation (on either your side or theirs) make sure everyone knows who is there and why
4) Pick the channel (face-to-face, videophone, voice, fax, or e-mail, etc.) that is most effective at getting all the information and detail on the table so that it can be fully considered by both sides
5) Avoid “flaming”; when you must express emotion, label the emotion explicitly so the other knows that it is and what’s behind it
6) Formal turn-taking is not strictly necessary, but try to synchronize offers and counteroffers. Speak up if it is not clear “whose turn it is.”
7) Check out assumptions you are making about the other’s interests, offers, proposals, or conduct. Less face-to-face contact means less information about the other party and a greater chance that inferences will get you in trouble, so ask questions
8) In many virtual negotiations (e.g., e-mail) everything is communicated in writing, so be careful not to make unwise commitments that can be used against you. Neither should you take undue advantage of the other party in this way; discuss and clarify until all agree
9) It may be easier to use unethical tactics in virtual negotiation because facts are harder to verify. But resist the temptation: The consequences are just as severe, and perhaps more so, given the incriminating evidence available when virtual negotiations are automatically archived
10) Not all styles work equally well in all settings. Work to develop a personal negotiation style (collaboration, competition, etc.) that is a good fit with the communication channel you are using. One of the most difficult aspects of negotiation is the actual give-and-take that occurs at the table. Should I stick with this point, or is it time to fold? Should I open the bidding or wait for the other side to take the lead? It requires good judgment to make these choices.

How to Improve Communication in Negotiation

1. The Use of Questions
Manageable Questions
Open-ended questions: ones that cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. Who, what, when, where, and why questions.
Open questions: invite the other’s thinking
Leading questions: point toward an answer
Cool questions: low emotionally
Planned questions: part of an overall logical sequence of questions developed in advance
Treat questions: flatter the opponent at the same time as you ask for information
Window questions: aid in looking into the other person’s mind
Directive questions: focus on a specific point
Gauging questions: ascertain how the other person feels

Unmanageable Questions
Close-out questions: force the other party into seeing things your way
Loaded question: put the other party on the spot regardless of the answer
Heated questions: high emotionality, trigger emotional responses
Impulse questions: occur “on the spur of the moment,” without planning, and tend to get conversation off the track
Trick questions: appear to require a frank answer, but really are “loaded” in their meaning
Reflective trick questions: reflects the other into agreeing with your point of view
2. Listening
Passive listening
Acknowledgment
Active listening

3. Role Reversal

Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations

Avoiding Fatal Mistakes
Achieving Closure


Summary

In this chapter we have considered elements of the art and science of communication that are relevant to understanding negotiations.
We first addressed what is communicated during negotiation. Rather than simply being an exchange of preferences about solutions, negotiation covers a wide-ranging number of topics in an environment where each party is trying to influence the other. This was followed by an exploration of three issues related to how people communicate in negotiation: the use of language, nonverbal communication, and the selection of a communication channel.
In the final two sections of the chapter we discussed how to improve communication considerations at the close of negotiation.

By Billy and Steven