McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Individual Differences II:
Personality and Abilities
Early Research on Individual
Differences and Negotiation
Four explanations for contradictory and
inconclusive early research:
• The effects of individual differences are subtle and
elusive
• The wrong kind of task was investigated
• The wrong individual differences were investigated
• Research methods were flawed or inconsistent
15-3
Eight Approaches to Studying
Personality in Negotiation
1. Conflict management
style
2. Social value
orientation
3. Interpersonal trust
4. Self-efficacy and locus
of control
5.
6.
7.
8.
Self-monitoring
Machiavellianism
Face threat sensitivity
The “Big Five”
personality factors
15-4
Conflict Management Style
•
Two levels of concern underlie the five conflict
management styles
–
–
•
Degree of assertiveness a party shows for his or her own
outcomes
Degree of cooperativeness the party shows toward
working for the other’s outcomes
Two personality dimensions represent these levels
of concern
–
–
Degree of assertiveness
Degree of cooperativeness
15-5
Conflict Management Style
Five major conflict management styles:
• A competing style—high on assertiveness and low
on cooperativeness
• An accommodating style—low on assertiveness and
high on cooperativeness
• An avoiding style—low on both assertiveness and
cooperativeness
• A collaborating style—high on both assertiveness
and cooperativeness
• A compromising style—moderate on both
assertiveness and cooperativeness
15-6
Conflict Management Style
15-7
Social Value Orientation
Preferences regarding the kinds of outcomes
people prefer in social settings where
interdependence with others is required
• Two orientations:
– Pro-self or egoistic: primarily concerned with
personal outcomes
– Pro-social or cooperative: preference for outcomes
that benefit both self and others
15-8
Interpersonal Trust
Determined by the experiences that people
have in dealing with others
• Individuals differ in levels of interpersonal trust
– High trusters: believe that others will be trustworthy
and that they need to trustworthy themselves
– Low trusters: believe that others cannot be trusted to
observe the rules and may feel less pressure
themselves to trust others
15-9
Self-Efficacy
A judgment about one’s ability to behave
effectively
• Plays an important role in complex interpersonal
behavior, including negotiation
• Higher levels of self-efficacy lead to higher
outcomes and setting higher goals
• One’s perceived level of competence at
negotiation may increase the likelihood that
collaborative problem solving will occur
15-10
Locus of Control
The extent to which people perceive that
they have control over events that occur:
– High external locus of control: attributes the cause of
events to external reasons (e.g., luck)
– High internal locus of control: attributes the cause of
events to internal reasons (e.g., ability)
• In a distributive negotiation, “internals” had
higher resistance points than “externals”
• Locus of control appears to influence negotiator
aspirations, preferences and outcomes
15-11
Self-Monitoring
The extent to which people are responsive to
the social cues that come from the social
environment
• High self-monitors:
– Attentive to external, interpersonal information
– Inclined to treat this information as cues to how one
should behave
• Low self-monitors:
– Less attentive to external information that may cue
behavior,
– Guided more in their behavioral choices by inner,
personal feelings
15-12
Machiavellianism
• Those scoring high in Machiavellianism:
– Tend to be cynical about others’ motives
– More likely to behave unaltruistically and
unsympathetically
– Less willing to change their convictions
under social pressure
– More likely to tolerate behavior that violates
social norms
– More inclined to advocate the use of
deception interpersonally
15-13
Face Threat Sensitivity
The concept of “face” refers to the value people
place on their public image or reputation
• Some people are more susceptible to reacting in a
negative way to threats to face
• Threats to one’s image will make a negotiator
competitive in a situation that might otherwise benefit
from cooperative behavior
15-14
The "Big Five" Personality Factors
• Extraversion – sociable, assertive, talkative
• Agreeableness – flexible, cooperative, trusting
• Conscientiousness – responsible, organized,
achievement oriented
• Emotional stability – secure, confident, not
anxious
• Openness – imaginative, broad-minded, curious
15-15
The "Big Five" Personality Factors
• Negotiators higher in extraversion and
agreeableness were more likely to do
worse in distributive bargaining
• Effects of personality were lessened when
negotiators had high aspirations for their
own performance
• These elements of personality did not
affect how well negotiators did in
complex integrative bargaining
15-16
Abilities in Negotiation
Three kinds of abilities and negotiation
behavior:
• Cognitive ability
• Emotional intelligence
• Perspective-taking ability
15-17
Cognitive Ability
Synonymous with the general notion of
intelligence, cognitive ability has been
shown to influence:
–
–
–
–
–
Reasoning
Decision making
Information processing capacity
Learning
Adaptability to change, particularly in novel
or complex situations
15-18
Emotional Intelligence
Encompasses a set of discrete but related
abilities:
– Perceiving and expressing emotion
accurately
– Accessing emotion in facilitating thought
– Comprehending and analyzing emotion
– Regulating appropriately one’s own emotions
and those of others
– To date only a few studies of its role have yet
to appear in the academic literature
15-19
Perspective-Taking Ability
“A negotiator’s capacity to understand the
other party’s point of view during a
negotiation and thereby to predict the
other party’s strategies and tactics”
• Negotiators with higher perspective-taking
ability
– Negotiated contracts of higher value
– Appear to be able to increase the concessions that the
other party is willing to make
15-20
Behaviors of Superior Negotiators
During prenegotiation planning:
• Consider more outcome options for the issues being discussed
• Spend more time looking for areas of common ground
• Think more about the long-term consequences of different
issues
• Prepare goals around ranges rather than fixed points
• Do not form plans into strict, sequential order
15-21
Behaviors of Superior Negotiators
During face-to-face bargaining:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Make fewer immediate counterproposals
Are less likely to describe offers in glowingly positive terms
Avoid defend-attack cycles
Use behavioral labeling, except when disagreeing
Ask more questions, especially to test understanding
Summarize compactly the progress made in the negotiation
Do not dilute arguments by including weak reasons when
trying to persuade the other party
15-22
Behaviors of Superior Negotiators
During postnegotiation review:
• Reserve time to review what is learned from
the negotiation
15-23