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

Two experiments tested a motivated information processing account of the interpersonal effects of anger and happiness in negotiations. In the course of a computer-mediated negotiation, Ss received information about the opponent's emotion (anger, happiness, or none). Consistent with prior research, Ss made larger concessions to angry opponents than to non-emotional opponents, and they made smaller concessions to happy ones. As expected, this effect was moderated by dispositional need for cognitive closure (NFC): Ss with low NFC were strongly influenced by the other's emotion, whereas Ss with high NFC were unaffected. In Exp. 2, NFC was manipulated through time pressure. As predicted, Ss were only affected by the other's emotion under low rather than high time pressure, and this moderating effect of time pressure was mediated by Ss' degree of information processing. These results are fully consistent with the motivated information processing model