1. Perception, Cognition and Communication
CHAPTER FIVE
Perception, Cognition and Communication

2. Perception and Negotiation
The role of perception
Perception distortion in negotiation
Framing

3. The Role of Perception
Perception: The process by which individuals connect to their environment
People interpret their environment in order to respond appropriately
The complexity of environments makes it impossible to process all of the information
As a result people develop shortcuts to process information
These shortcuts create perceptual errors

4. Perception Distortion in Negotiation
Four major perceptual errors:
Stereotyping
Halo effects
Selective perception
Projection

5. Stereotyping & Halo Effects
Stereotyping: An individual assigns attributes to another solely on the basis of the other’s membership in a particular social or demographic group
“Old people are conservative; this person is old and therefore is conservative”
Halo Effects: An individual generalizes about a variety of attributes based on the knowledge of one attribute of an individual
“He is smiling therefore he is also honest”

6. Selective Perception & Projection
Selective Perception: The perceiver singles out information that supports a prior belief but filters out contrary information
The person who thinks “He is smiling therefore he is also honest” ignores behavior indicating the other party’s aggressiveness
Projection: People ascribe to others the characteristics that they possess themselves
“I am honest therefore she is honest also”

7. Framing
Frames:
The subjective mechanism through which people evaluate and make sense out of situations
Lead people to pursue or avoid subsequent actions
About focusing, shaping and organizing the world around us
Making sense of complex realities
Defining realities in ways that are meaningful to us

8. Cognitive Biases in Negotiation
Negotiators have a tendency to make systematic errors when they process information. These cognitive biases, impede negotiator performance; they include:
Irrational Escalation of Commitment
Mythical Fixed-Pie Beliefs
Anchoring and Adjustment
Framing
Availability of Information
Winners Curse
Overconfidence
The Law of Small Numbers
Self-Serving Biases
Endowment Effect
Ignoring Other’s Cognitions
Reactive Devaluation

9. Irrational Escalation of Commitment & Mythical Fixed-Pie Beliefs
Negotiators maintain commitment to a course of action even when that commitment constitutes irrational behavior
Mythical Fixed-Pie Beliefs
Negotiators assume that all negotiations (not just some) involve a fixed pie

10. Anchoring and Adjustment & Framing
The effect of the standard (anchor) against which subsequent adjustments (gains or losses) are measured
The anchor might be based on faulty or incomplete information, thus be misleading
Framing
Frames can lead people to seek, avoid, or be neutral about risk in decision making and negotiation

11. Availability of Information & The Winners Curse
Operates when information that is presented in vivid or attention-getting ways becomes easy to recall.
Becomes central and critical in evaluating events and options
The Winners Curse
The tendency to settle quickly on an item and then subsequently feel discomfort about a win that comes too easily

12. Overconfidence & The Law of Small Numbers
The tendency of negotiators to believe that their ability to be correct or accurate is greater than is actually true
The Law of Small Numbers
The tendency of people to draw conclusions from small sample sizes
The smaller sample, the greater the possibility that past lessons will be erroneously used to infer what will happen in the future

13. Confidence or Overconfidence?

14. Self-Serving Biases & Endowment Effect
People often explain another person’s behavior by making attributions, either to the person or to the situation
The tendency is to:
Overestimate the role of personal or internal factors
Underestimate the role of situational or external factors
Endowment Effect
The tendency to overvalue something you own or believe you possess

15. Ignoring Other’s Cognitions & Reactive Devaluation
Negotiators don’t bother to ask about the other party’s perceptions and thoughts
This leaves them to work with incomplete information, and thus produces faulty results
Reactive Devaluation
The process of devaluing the other party’s concessions simply because the other party made them

16. Managing Misperceptions and Cognitive Biases in Negotiation
The best advice is:
Be aware of the negative aspects of these effects
Discuss them in a structured manner within their team and with their counterparts

17. Communication in Negotiation
Two key implications for negotiation:
The distortions that can occur in communication
How communication in negotiation can be viewed in phases or stages

18. Distortions in Communication
1. Senders and receivers
The more diverse their goals or the more antagonistic they are in their relationship, the greater the likelihood that:
Distortions and errors in communication will occur
2. Transmitters and receptors
The choice of transmitter can affect outcomes
Some messages may be better spoken, others written
Poor eyesight, faulty hearing, etc. diminish the ability of a receiver to receive a message accurately

19. Distortions in Communication
3. Messages
The symbolic forms by which information is communicated
The more we use symbolic communication, the more likely the symbols may not accurately communicate the meaning we intend
4. Encoding
The process by which messages are put into symbolic form
Senders are likely to encode messages in a form which receivers may not prefer

20. Distortions in Communication
5. Channels
The conduits by which messages are carried from one party to another
Messages are subject to distortion from channel noise
6. Decoding
The process of translating messages from their symbolic form into a form that makes sense
When people speak different languages, decoding involves higher degrees of error

21. Distortions in Communication
7. Meanings
The facts, ideas, feelings, reactions, or thoughts that exist within individuals and act as filters for interpreting the decoded messages
Those filters can introduce distortions
8. Feedback
The process by which the receiver reacts to the sender’s message
The absence of feedback can contribute to distortions
Feedback can distort communication by leading negotiators to change how they negotiate or evaluate outcomes

22. Phase Models of Communication in Negotiation
Negotiation proceeds through distinct phases or stages:
The early stages
Negotiators engage in behavior to state and defend their own position to the other party

23. Phase Models of Communication in Negotiation
The middle phase
Negotiators become less competitive and protective
They move to a problem-oriented mode, searching for possible solutions within limits that were defined earlier
The later stage
Negotiators work to achieve a joint solution
They are trying to agree on a settlement point that will satisfy each party

24. What is Communicated During Negotiation?
Offers and counteroffers
Information about alternatives
Information about outcomes
Social accounts
Explanations of mitigating circumstances
Explanations of exonerating circumstances
Reframing explanations
Communication about the negotiation process

25. How People Communicate in Negotiation
Use of Language
Logical level (proposals, offers)
Pragmatic level (semantics, syntax, style)
Selection of a Communication Channel
Social presence is key variation that distinguishes one channel from another
Social presence is the ability of a channel to carry and convey subtle social cues from sender to receiver
It goes beyond the literal “text” of the message itself

26. How to Improve Communication in Negotiation
The Use of Questions
Manageable
Cause attention or prepare the other person’s thinking for:
Further questions
Getting information
Generating thoughts
Unmanageable
Cause difficulty, give information and bring the discussion to a false conclusion

27. How to Improve Communication in Negotiation (cont.)
Listening: Three major forms
Passive listening
No feedback to the sender
Acknowledgment:
Receivers nod their heads, maintain eye contact, or interject responses
Active listening:
Receivers restate or paraphrase the sender’s message in their own language

28. How to Improve Communication in Negotiation (cont.)
Using active listening encourages people to speak more fully about their:
Feelings
Priorities
Frames of reference
Positions

29. How to Improve Communication in Negotiation (cont.)
Role Reversal
Allows negotiators to understand the other party’s positions by actively arguing these positions
Role reversal is effective in producing cognitive changes and attitude changes
When the positions are compatible, role reversal is likely to produce acceptable results
When the positions are incompatible, role reversal may inhibit positive change
Role reversal is not necessarily effective overall as a means of inducing agreement between parties

30. Mood, Emotion and Negotiation
Negotiations Create Both Positive and Negative Emotions
Positive Emotions Generally Have Positive Consequences for Negotiations
They are more likely to lead the parties toward more integrative processes
They also create a positive attitude toward the other side
They promote persistence

31. Mood, Emotion and Negotiation
Positive Emotions Generally Have Positive Consequences for Negotiations (cont.)
They result from fair procedures during negotiation
They may also have negative consequences
Negotiators in a positive mood may be less likely to examine closely the arguments put forward by the other party

32. Mood, Emotion and Negotiation
Negative Emotions Generally Have Negative Consequences for Negotiations
They may lead parties to define the situation as competitive or distributive
They may lead parties to escalate the conflict
They may lead parties to use retaliatory behavior and obtain poorer outcomes

33. Mood, Emotion and Negotiation
Negative Emotions Generally Have Negative Consequences for Negotiations (cont.)
They may result from impasse
They may create positive outcomes
Anger can serve as a danger signal that motivates both parties to confront the problem directly and search for a resolution
Emotions Can Be Used Strategically As Negotiation Tactics

34. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Avoiding Fatal Mistakes
Decision Traps and Learning from Negotiation Feedback
1. Plunging in involves:
Reaching a conclusion before fully identifying the essence or crux of the problem
2. Overconfidence in one’s own judgment involves:
Blocking, ignoring, failing to seek factual information that might contradict one’s own assumptions and opinions

35. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Decision Traps and Learning from Negotiation Feedback (cont.)
3. Frame blindness involves:
Solving the wrong problem
Overlooking options
Losing sight of objectives
Because they do not fit the frame being used
4. Lack of frame control involves:
Failing to test frames to determine if they fit the issues being discussed
Being unduly influenced by the other party’s frame

36. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Decision Traps and Learning from Negotiation Feedback (cont.)
5. Shortsighted shortcuts involves misusing:
Heuristics
Rules of thumb
E,g. convenient (but misleading) referent points
6. Shooting from the hip involves:
Managing too much information in one’s head
Not adopting and using a systematic process of evaluation and choice

37. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Decision Traps and Learning from Negotiation Feedback (cont.)
7. Group failure involves:
Not managing the group process effectively
Assuming that smart and well-intentioned individuals can invariably produce a high-quality group decision
8. Fooling yourself about feedback involves failing to use feedback correctly:
To Protect one’s ego
Through the bias of hindsight

38. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Decision Traps and Learning from Negotiation Feedback (cont.)
9. Not keeping track involves:
Assuming that learning occurs automatically
Not keeping systematic records of decisions and related outcomes
10. Failure to audit one’s own decision processes involves:
Failing to establish and use a plan to avoid the traps mentioned here
The inability or unwillingness to fully understand one’s own style, warts and all

39. Special Communication Considerations at the Close of Negotiations
Achieving Closure
Do You Have a "Good” Agreement?
Is there a preamble in which the intent of the agreement is spelled out clearly?
Are all the issues of interest to all parties addressed?
Are all the proposals workable?
Have all parties affected by the agreement been consulted?

40. Achieving Closure Do You Have a "Good” Agreement? (cont.)
For each point of agreement, is it crystal clear what you have agreed to, including:
What is to be done
By whom
By what time
How
Does the agreement make sense in total?
Is the agreement reasonable and equitable?

41. Achieving Closure Do You Have a "Good” Agreement? (cont.)
Have you considered the major barriers to fulfilling the agreement?
Do you have a vehicle for managing disagreements arising out of this agreement?
Is it clear to all parties what this vehicle is and how to use it?