Testing the relationship between local cue-response patterns and the global structure of communication behaviour.
A central assumption of negotiation research is that organized sequences of cues and responses underlie the dimensions and constructs found to structure interaction. We empirically tested this assumption using a new 'proximity' coefficient, which measures the global interrelationships among behaviours based on their intrinsic local organization within an interaction sequence. An analysis of sequences from 21 hostage negotiations showed that local cue-response dependencies are organized in a way that corresponds with an established structural model of communication. Further analysis of case-specific coefficients showed that criminal, political and domestic incidents involve very different cue-response dynamics, with criminal incidents dividing into two distinct types of interaction. The importance of the proximity concept for unifying local and global accounts of negotiation behaviour, and the avenues of research made possible by the proximity coefficient, are discussed.
Taylor
Paul J
PJ
School of Psychology, Eleanor Rathbone Building, The University of Liverpool, L69 7ZA, UK. pjtaylor@liv.ac.uk
Donald
Ian
I
D003142:Communication; D003463:Cues; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation