The Interpersonal Effects of Emotions in Negotiations: A Motivated Information Processing Approach

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,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2004-10, Vol.87 (4), p.510-528
Main Authors: Van Kleef, Gerben A, De Dreu, Carsten K. W, Manstead, Antony S. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Anger
Bargaining
Behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Cognition
Emotional States
Emotions
Experiments
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Happiness
Human
Human Information Storage
Humans
Information processing
Interpersonal Interaction
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Mental Processes
Motivation
Negotiating
Negotiation
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social interactions. Communication. Group processes
Social psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.87.4.510