Social cues in computer-mediated negotiations: Gender makes a difference

Abstract

The extent to which social perceptions during computer-mediated communication are influenced by the availability of social information and are based on internalized social expectations was examined. In a computer-mediated negotiations task, 66 males and 39 females were provided with either no information about their opponent or were told that their opponent was the same sex as themselves. Two (Information: Other's sex known vs. unknown) × 2 (Sex: Male vs. female) multivariate analyses of covariance, controlling for self-expectations or perceptions, which were performed on subjects' expectations and ongoing perceptions of the other negotiator revealed significant interaction effects. When no information was given about the other negotiator, there were no sex differences in expectations and perceptions. However, when the other's sex was known, females were perceived as more cooperative and less exploitative than males. These expectations were associated with differences in initial negotiation behaviors. Contrary to previous research, these findings suggest that computer-mediated social perceptions are indeed sensitive to social cues and that these social cues may invoke stereotypes or a priori expectations.