Negative Emotions Generally Have Negative Consequences for Negotiations

As we noted earlier, negative feelings may be based either in dejection or in agitation, one or both parties may feel the emotions, and the behavior of one may prompt the emotional reaction in the other. Some specific research findings follow:

Negative emotions may lead parties to define the situation as competitive or distributive. A negative mood increases the likelihood that the actor will increase belligerent behavior toward the other. In a negotiation situation, this negative behavior is most likely to take the shape of a more distributive posture on the issues.

Negative emotions may undermine a negotiator’s ability to analyze the situation accurately, which adversely affects individual outcomes. Research indicates that angry negotiators are less accurate at judging the other party’s interests and at recalling their own interests, compared with negotiators with neutral emotion. It is noteworthy that the experimental manipulation of anger in this study was unrelated to the negotiation itself – anger was aroused during what subjects believed was a separate experiment preceding the negotiation experiment. This carryover effect of anger highlights the power of negative emotion to divert one’s attention and focus from the negotiation problem at hand.

Negative emotions may lead parties to escalate the conflict. When the mood is negative – more specifically, when both parties are dejected, frustrated, and blame the other – conflict is likely to become personal, the number of issues in the conflict may expand, and other parties may become drawn into the dispute. Expressions of anger by one party may trigger anger from the other party, reducing the chances for a successful settlement of the dispute.

Negative emotions may lead parties to retaliate and may thwart integrative outcomes. When the parties are angry with each other, and when their previous interaction has already led one party to seek to punish the other, the other may choose to retaliate. Negative emotions may also lead to less effective outcomes. The more a negotiator holds the other responsible for destructive behavior in a previous interaction, the more anger and less compassion he or she feels for the other party. This in turn leads to less concern for the other’s interests and a lower likelihood of discovering mutually beneficial negotiated solutions.

Not all negative emotions have the same effect. Anger may tend to escalate conflict and foster retaliation, but what about less “hot” negative emotions, such as worry, disappointment, guilt, and regret? Research shows that negotiators make smaller demands of worried or disappointed opponents, presumably feeling sorry for their situation, but make fewer concessions to guilty or regretful opponents. Negotiators do, however, report more favorable impressions of regretful opponents, viewing them as more interpersonally sensitive than opponents experiencing worry or disappointment.