Bring it On! How Negotiators Strategically Choose to Feel Worse

Abstract

Though negotiation scholars have generally recommended that negotiators suppress their expressions of emotion, extant research has pointed to the expression of emotions as a powerful strategy in negotiations. For example, Ho and Andrade (2010) suggest that people tend to use the expression of emotions to their advantage in one-shot games and are fully aware of their strategies. Also, expressions of anger and disappointment have been found to inspire more concessions from one’s counterpart than expressions of happiness (Van Kleef, De Dreu, & Manstead, 2004). In a series of experimental studies, we explore the possibility that the actual experience, not just the expression, of negative emotions may also be common, strategic, and beneficial to negotiators.