Individuals in negotiations often do not talk about their reasons to aim for a certain outcome and design their arguments in such a way that their reasons are unclear to the other party. Three experiments examined the occurrence and the underlying motive for this ‘beating around the bush’ as a function of the conflict issue—conflicting interests, conflicting ideas about intellective problems or conflicting ideas about evaluative problems. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that beating around the bush occurred more frequently in (a specific instance of) conflict of interest than in intellective or evaluative conflict. Experiment 3 suggests that providing arguments for one’s position in terms of self-interest is considered honest but not very smart or strategic.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Brehmer, B. (1976). Social judgment theory and the analysis of interpersonal conflict . Psychological Bulletin, 83, 985–1003 .
2.
Cohen, J. (1960). A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales . Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37–46 .
3.
Cosier, R. A., & Rose, G. L. (1977). Cognitive conflict and goal conflict effects on task performance . Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 19, 378–391 .
4.
De Dreu, C. K. W., Giebels, E., & Van de Vliert, E. (1998). Social motives and trust in integrative negotiation: The disruptive effects of punitive capability . Journal of Applied Psychology, 83, 408–422 .
5.
De Dreu, C. K. W., Harinck, F., & Van Vianen, A. E. M. (1999). Conflict and performance in groups and organizations. In C. L. Cooper & I. Robertson (Eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology(Vol. 14, pp. 369–414). Chichester, UK: Wiley .
6.
De Dreu, C. K. W., Weingart, L. R., & Kwon, S. (2000). Influence of social motives on integrative negotiation: A meta-analytical review and test of two theories . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 889–905 .
7.
Druckman, D. (1994). Determinants of compromising behavior in negotiation . Journal of Conflict Resolution, 38, 507–556 .
8.
Druckman, D., Rozelle, R., & Zechmeister, K. (1977). Conflict of interest and value dissensus: Two perspectives. In D. Druckman (Ed.), Negotiations: Social-psychological perspectives(pp. 105–131). Beverley Hills, CA: Sage .
9.
Festinger, L. (1950). Informal social communication . Psychological Review, 57, 271–282 .
10.
Fisher, R., & Ury, W. (1981). Getting to yes: Negotiating agreement without giving in. Boston: Houghton Mifflin .
11.
Gergen, K. J., & Gergen, M. M. (1986). Social psychology(2nd ed.). New York: Springer-Verlag .
12.
Harinck, F., De Dreu, C. K. W., & Van Vianen, A. E. M. (2000). The impact of conflict issues on fixedpie perceptions, problem solving and integrative outcomes in negotiation . Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 81, 329–358 .
13.
Hegtvedt, K. A., & Cook, K. S. (1987). The role of justice in conflict situations . Advances in Group Processes, 4, 109–136 .
14.
Kelley, H. H., & Thibaut, J. W. (1969). Group problem solving. In G. Lindzey & E. Aronson (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology(pp. 1–101). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley .
15.
Kenny, D. A., & La Voie, L. (1985). Separating individual and group effects . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 339–348 .
16.
Keough, C. M. (1992). Bargaining arguments and argumentative bargainers. In L. L. Putnam & M. E. Roloff (Eds.), Communication and negotiation(pp. 109–127). Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
17.
Lax, D. A., & Sebenius, J. K. (1986). The manager as negotiator: Bargaining for cooperation and competitive gain. New York: Free Press .
18.
Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. J. Gergen, M. S. Greenberg, & R. H. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange—Advances in theory and research(pp. 92–131). New York: Plenum Press .
19.
Levine, J. M., & Thompson, L. (1996). Conflict in groups. In E. T. Higgins & A. W. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology. Handbook of principles(pp. 745–767). New York: Guildford Press .
20.
Lewicki, R. J. (1983). Lying and deception: A behavioral model. In M. H. Bazerman & R. J. Lewicki (Eds.), Negotiating in organizations. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage .
21.
Maier, N. R. F. (1963). Problem-solving discussions and conferences: Leadership methods and skills. New York: McGraw-Hill .
22.
Miller, D. T., & Ratner, R. K. (1996). The power of the myth of self-interest. In L. Montada & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Current societal concerns about justice(pp. 25–48). New York: Plenum Press .
23.
Miller, D. T., & Ratner, R. K. (1998). The disparity between the actual and assumed power of selfinterest . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 53–62 .
24.
Montada, L. (1996). Tradeoffs between justice and self-interest. In L. Montada & M. J. Lerner (Eds.), Current societal concerns about justice(pp. 259–275). New York: Plenum Press .
25.
O’Connor, K. M., & Carnevale, P. J. (1997). A nasty but effective negotiation strategy: Misrepresentation of a common-value issue . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 504–515 .
26.
Pruitt, D. G. (1981). Negotiation behavior. New York: Academic Press .
27.
Pruitt, D. G. (1998). Social conflict. In D. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology(4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 89–150). New York: McGraw-Hill .
28.
Pruitt, D. G., & Carnevale, P. J. (1993). Negotiation in social conflict. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press .
29.
Pruitt, D. G., & Lewis, S. A. (1975). Development of integrative solutions in bilateral negotation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 621–633 .
30.
Pruitt, D. G., & Smith, D. L. (1981). Impression management in bargaining: Images of firmness and trustworthiness. In J. T. Tedeschi (Ed.), Impression management theory and social psychological theory(pp. 247–267). New York: Academic Press .
31.
Raiffa, H. (1982). The art and science of negotiation. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
32.
Ratner, R. K., & Miller, D. T. (2001). The norm of self-interest and its effects on social action . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 5–16 .
33.
Rubin, J. Z., Pruitt, D. G., & Kim, S. H. (1994). Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate and settlement. New York: Random House .
34.
Thomas, K. W. (1992). Conflict and negotiation processes in organizations. In M. D. Dunnette & K. M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology(pp. 651–717). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press .
35.
Thompson, L., & Loewenstein, G. (1992). Egocentric interpretations of fairness and interpersonal conflict . Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 51, 176–197 .
36.
Tjosvold, D. (1977). Commitment to justice in conflict between unequal status persons . Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 7, 149–162 .
37.
Walster, E., Berscheid, E., & Walster, G. W. (1973). New directions in equity research . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25, 151–176 .
38.
Weingart, L. R. (1997). How did they do that? The ways and means of studying group process . Research in Organizational Behavior, 19, 189–239 .
