Supplication and appeasement in conflict and negotiation: The interpersonal effects of disappointment, worry, guilt, and regret.
This study examined the social effects of emotions related to supplication and appeasement in conflict and negotiation. In a computer-simulated negotiation, participants in Experiment 1 were confronted with a disappointed or worried opponent (supplication), with a guilty or regretful opponent (appeasement), or with a nonemotional opponent (control). Compared with controls, participants conceded more when the other experienced supplication emotions and conceded less when the other experienced appeasement emotions (especially guilt). Experiment 2 replicated the effects of disappointment and guilt and showed that they are moderated by the perceiver's dispositional trust: Negotiators high in trust conceded more to a disappointed counterpart than to a happy one, but those with low trust were unaffected. In Experiment 3, trust was manipulated through information about the other's personality (cooperative vs. competitive), and a similar moderation was obtained.
Van Kleef
Gerben A
GA
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. g.a.vankleef@uva.nl
De Dreu
Carsten K W
CK
Manstead
Antony S R
AS
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006167:Guilt; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D017008:Negotiating; D018187:Personal Construct Theory; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D035502:Trust