Economics Insights @ CBS

We propose that face-to-face contact fosters the development of rapport and thereby helps negotiators coordinate on mutually beneficial settlements in mixed-motive conflicts. Specifically, we investigate whether, in a cooperative climate, negotiators' visual access to each other's nonverbal behavior fosters a dyadic state of rapport that facilitates mutual cooperation. Experiment 1 manipulated whether negotiators stood face-to-face or side-by-side (unable to see each other) in a simulated strike negotiation.

Among the factors contributing to the inability of environmental and economic interest groups to resolve conflicts are the processes of social perception and social decision making. This article identifies social psychological dynamics that cause opposing parties to misunderstand each other's interests and the facts presented to support them, thus hindering efficient conflict settlement. The authors review research elucidating the sources of these problems and potential remedies.

Consumers make multi-category decisions in a variety of contexts such as choice of multiple categories during a shopping trip. While complementarity gives managers some control over consumers' buying behavior, co-occurrence or co-incidence is less controllable. Other acts that may affect multi-category choice may be household preferences or household demographics. Not accounting for these 3 factors simultaneously could lead to erroneous inferences.