Disconnecting outcomes and evaluations: the role of negotiator focus.
Three experiments explored the role of negotiator focus in disconnecting negotiated outcomes and evaluations. Negotiators who focused on their target prices, the ideal outcome they could obtain, achieved objectively superior outcomes compared with negotiators who focused on their lower bound (e.g., reservation price). Those negotiators who focused on their targets, however, were less satisfied with their objectively superior outcomes. In the final experiment, when negotiators were reminded of their lower bound after the negotiation, the satisfaction of those negotiators who had focused on their target prices was increased, with outcomes and evaluations becoming connected rather than disconnected. The possible negative effects of setting high goals and the temporal dimensions of the disconnection and reconnection between outcomes and evaluations are discussed.
Galinsky
Adam D
AD
Department of Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA. agalinsky@northwestern.edu
Mussweiler
Thomas
T
Medvec
Victoria Husted
VH
D001290:Attitude; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D006801:Humans; D017008:Negotiating; D010549:Personal Satisfaction