Perception, Cognition and Emotion

Perception, cognition, and emotion are the foundations of all our social
interactions. How we conduct a negotiation will depend in large part on how we
perceive, analyze, and feel about the other party, the situation and our own
interests and positions.

Perception involves our brain’s best guesses about the world based upon sense
data. Perception is a complex process whereby we screen, select, and interpret
the information we receive to make sense of it.

Many things influence how we perceive the negotiation situation and the
messages and behaviors of the other party, including our state of mind, our past
experiences, and our comprehension of earlier communication.

Our senses are bombarded with information and to make sense of it, our
perceptions are selective, we attend to some stimuli and ignore others. This
process of selection and attention allows us to process a great deal of information
very quickly, but we do so at the expense of accuracy.

In any negotiation, our own needs, desires, motivations, and personal experiences
may create a predisposition about how we view the other party. This can lead to
biases and errors.

I want to review four major perceptual errors that can affect a negotiation:
stereotyping, halo effects, selection perception and projection. In doing so, I will
be relying largely on the article “Perception, Cognition, and Emotion” which I have
uploaded in the Readings section of our course.

Stereotyping is a very common perceptual distortion. It occurs when we assign

attributes to an individual based on their membership in a particular social, ethnic
or demographic group. Examples include Gen-Xers, senior citizens, women, men,
blacks, Italians, Germans, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Poles, etc.

Once stereotypes are formed, they are difficult to change. Dividing people into
groups encourages people to think in terms of “us” and “them” and to think in
terms of an “in” or “out” group.
People are more likely to stereotype others when faced with time-pressure,
cognitive stress, and mood. Also conflicts of values, ideologies or competition for
scarce resources can encourage stereotyping.

Halo effects in perception are like stereotypes, but instead of using a person’s
group membership as a basis for classification, people pick one attribute and
generalize from that one attribute to a variety of other attributes.

For example, when I first meet someone, I tend to form an initial first impression
of them. If my first impression is good, let’s say I see them smiling and form the
belief that they are friendly. Studies show that people will tend to judge a smiling
person as being honest, although there is no correlation between smiling and
honesty. As a result of hallo effects, I will tend to judge subsequent encounters
with a person based on my first impression of them. Hence, if I have a positive
first impression of someone, I will tend to interpret their subsequent behaviors in
a positive light. The same holds for forming a bad first impression of someone. I
will tend to interpret subsequent encounters with them in a negative light.

The saying “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression” is an
insight based on the power of halo effects.

Halo effects and stereotypes are problematic in negotiations. They make it easier
under the pressure of time, to form rapid first impressions based on limited
information, such as appearance, group membership, or initial statements.
Negotiators tend to maintain these judgments as they get to know each other,
filling in information to form a consistent pattern.

Selective perception occurs when a perceiver singles out certain information that
supports or reinforces a prior belief and filters out information that does not
confirm that belief. For example, if a perceive an initial smile as evidence of
honesty and I may downplay any statements that show their competitiveness or
craftiness. By contrast, if the negotiator perceives that same smile as a smirk,
then the negotiator may downplay the other party’s offers to establish an honest
and cooperative relationship.

Mona Lisa’s smile…

Projection is when people assign characteristics or feelings to others that they

possess themselves. This is usually done out of a need to protect our own self-
image—to see ourselves as consistent and good.
Negotiators may assume that the other party would respond in the same manner
they would if the positions were reversed. But projecting our own feelings and
beliefs onto the other negotiator may be incorrect and may negatively impact my
negotiation. For example, I may feel relieved if the other party expresses
understanding for my position, I am assuming that they are reacting to a situation
in the same way that I would, even though they are simply using information to
manipulate me.

Perceptual distortions can influence may aspects of the negotiation process and
once they are formed, they are difficult our use to rid ourselves of. Stereotyping,
halo effects and projection are perceptual shortcuts which we use to make sense
of complex environments and situations, but they come with significant costs. For
example, our perceptual judgments about others dispositions toward us may
affect our expectations about the willingness of the other party to make
concessions or cooperate with us.

Framing

A key issue in perception and in negotiation is framing. A frame is the subjective

mechanism through which we evaluate people and make sense of situations.
Framing helps us understand current events in terms of our experience. A frame
defines a person, event or process and separates it from the complex world
around it.

Framing is a popular concept among social scientists who study cognitive

processes, decision-making, persuasion, and communication. The importance of
framing comes from the fact that two people who are involved in the same
situation can see it or define it in different ways. For example, two people who
walk into a room full of people may see it in different ways. An extrovert may see
it as a great party, a person with agoraphobia1 may see it a scary or intimidating
crowd.

1 Agoraphobia involves fearing and avoiding places or situations that might cause panic and feelings of being trapped, helpless
or embarrassed.
Framing effects are important in negotiation and in dispute resolution because
people have different backgrounds, personal histories, and prior experiences.
Moreover, our frames can change depending on our perspective.

Frames are critical for negotiation because how a party frames and defines a
negotiating issue or problem reflects their objectives, expectations, and
preferences for a particular outcome.

Types of Frames

1. Substantive—what a conflict is about. Parties taking a substantive

framework have a particular disposition about the key issue or concern in
the conflict.

2. Outcome—a party’s disposition to achieve a specific result or outcome

from the negotiation. To the degree that a negotiator has a specific,
preferred outcome he wants to achieve, the dominant frame may be to
focus all strategy, tactics, and communication toward getting that outcome.
Parties with a strong outcome frame emphasize self-interest and
downplays concern for the other party are more likely to engage in
distributive negotiations (win-lose or lose-lose) than other types of
negotiations.

3. Aspiration—a predisposition toward satisfying a broader set of interests or

needs in the negotiation. Rather than focusing on a specific outcome, the
negotiator tries to ensure that his basic interests, needs, or concerns are
met. Parties who have a strong aspiration frame are more likely to be
primarily engaged in integrative (win-win) negotiation than other types.

4. Process—how the parties will go about resolving their dispute. Negotiators

who have a strong process frame are less concerned about the specific
negotiation issues and more concerns about how deliberations will
proceed, or who the dispute should be managed. When the major concerns
are procedural rather than substantive, process frames will be strong.

5. Identity—how the parties define “who they are.” Parties are members of
several different social groups—gender, religion, ethic origin, place of birth,
 place of residents. People define themselves in terms of identity rather
than in terms of presumed interests.

6. Characterization—how the parties define the other parties. A

characterization frame can clearly be shaped by experience with the other
party, by information about the other party’s history or reputation, or by
the way the other party comes across in the negotiation. In conflict, identity
frames tend to be positive, characterization frames (of others) tend to be
negative.

7. Loss-gain—how the parties define the risk or reward associated with

outcomes. For example, a buyer in a sales negotiation can view the
transaction in loss terms (the monetary cost of the purchase) or in gain
terms (in value of the item).

How Frames Work in Negotiation

It is difficult to infer what framework the other party is using until they tell you or
unless you make inferences from their behavior.

Cognitive and Psychological Traps

Understand Your Negotiation Style
Negotiating with Emotions
Communicative Competence
The Science of Persuasion
Case Study: Parker-Gibson