The role of emotion in negotiation - The impact of anger and race

The study of negotiation has been dominated by laboratory studies. These investigate research questions arising from an economics-oriented paradigm, leading researchers to exclude many variables that impact negotiations. Emotion is one such variable. Anger, in particular, determines the intensity of the conflict between the negotiators, is both a cause and an effect of the process by which the negotiators try to reach agreement, and impacts the implementation of the settlement. Insights from clinical psychology supplement and enrich those available from social psychology, economics, and cognitive psychology. The importance of emotion is illustrated by examining interracial conflicts.