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Selecting an Opponent or Choosing or Learning His Identity
If the individual negotiator has the opportunity to choose an opponent, affect
can play a role during his decision-making. Research findings cited by Barry and Oliver
(1996) indicate two conflicting outcomes. The selection of an opponent can be viewed
as a problem solving or an information-processing task. As a problem-solving task Isen
and her colleagues in Barry and Oliver (1996:133) associate positive affect with
"problem solving creativity, cognitive flexibility, and perspective taking..." which
means that high positive-affect negotiators will be very creative or strategic in choosing
their opponent. The information-processing approach sees the selection decision as a
"response to stimulus cues", which makes people experiencing positive affect "prefer
simplified, heuristically-based information processing strategies, while negative affect
triggers more elaborated, analytical processing styles."
There seems to be a contradiction between the two theories of affect in the
selection of an opponent. However, the information-processing theory's view is that
when a person is in a positive mood, he uses less effort for the selection process and is
willing to take risks; he can also afford to be creative or to think in unusual ways. The
authors, however, question the idea that the negotiator needs a stimulus first to be
creative in his selection ofan opponent. They feel negative affect implies that there is a
problem and decisions must be avoided that would worsen the situation.
Formulating Expectations
Negotiators always define their expectations i.e. they assess the negotiation goal
and limits when they go to negotiation. This means they determine "the lowest
acceptable benefit" which, according to Pruitt is called the "level of aspiration and
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