Negotiation Research

Bringing mediation into the technological era

Laptops, smartphones, databases, and project-management software have become common tools of the negotiation trade. Meanwhile, even as online dispute resolution has risen in popularity, the traditional practice of inperson mediation remains a largely technology-free zone, with smartphones often turned off and tucked away.
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Should you tell them a story?

Persuasion strategies like alluding to a product’s popularity and prompting concessions by offering potential customers “free gifts” have proven useful for business negotiators who are trying to shine the best light on their offers.
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Why displays of anger can backfire

When negotiators get angry, their counterparts often snap to attention, research shows. We tend to perceive negotiators who appear angry as hard bargainers, and thus make lower demands of them and offer them higher concessions than when dealing with happy opponents, University of Amsterdam professor Gerben A. Van Kleef has found in his research.
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In email negotiations, when they’re happy, do you know it?

Negotiators’ expressions of emotion offer critical feedback about their preferences, offers, fears, and other information, yet emotions can be notoriously difficult to interpret accurately.
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Keeping advisers on our side

Before and during a negotiation, we often seek advice from others about whom to approach, what to offer, what to accept, and how to navigate an unfamiliar process. Whether our advisers are experienced agents negotiating on our behalf or friends sharing their personal experience, we weigh their advice and decide whether or not to follow it.
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When all we can see is red

The ability to take another person’s perspective is a valuable negotiation skill. Perspective taking enhances the discovery of joint gains in negotiation, makes groups more effective, reduces stereotypical thinking, and aids in conflict resolution, to name just a few benefits.
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Inoculate yourself against auction fever

Those who participate regularly in auctions have likely observed the phenomenon of “auction fever” firsthand—or caught the fever themselves.
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Recovering from adverse events in negotiation

When setbacks arise in negotiation—from a take-it-or-leave-it offer to a walkout to an unexpected economic downturn—we’re faced with several choices.
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Are women more ethical negotiators than men—and if so, why?

Men tend to claim more resources than women in negotiation, research shows. Why?
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Should you brandish your BATNA?

When and how to reveal what you’ll do if you can’t reach a deal.
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