The Interpersonal Effects of Anger and Happiness on Negotiation Behavior and Outcomes

How do emotions affect the opponent's behavior in a negotiation? Two experiments explored the interpersonal effects of anger and happiness. In Study 1 participants received information about the emotion (anger vs. happiness vs. no emotion) of their (fake) opponent. Participants with an angry opponent made lower demands and larger concessions than did participants with a happy opponent, those with a non-emotional opponent falling in between. Furthermore, the opponent's emotions induced similar emotions in the participants (i.e., "emotional contagion"), and participants with a happy opponent evaluated the opponent and the negotiation more favorably than did participants with an angry opponent. In Study 2 participants received information about both the opponent's experienced and communicated emotions. As predicted, angry communications (unlike happy ones) induced fear and thereby mitigated the effect of the opponent's experienced emotion.