Weakness as Strength: The Use and Misuse of a "My Hands Are Tied" Ploy in Bargaining

This study was designed to evaluate empirically the notion that in bargaining weakness can be turned into strength. Subjects participated in simulated labor-management negotiations. The results indicate that a "my hands are tied" ploy is effective in eliciting concessions when used to induce an adversary to accept a settlement which is included in the bargaining range. In contrast, the use of the ploy in an effort to settle negotiations outside the bargaining range enhanced the adversary's intransigence. The implications of the differential effects of a "my hands are tied" ploy for the process of negotiations are discussed.     

Games of luck and games of chance: the effect of luck- versus chance-orientation on gambling decisions

Chance and luck are conceived as two distinct causal agents that effect different results. The present study examined the proposition that persons who habitually attribute the outcome of random events to chance (chance-oriented persons) and those who prefer to attribute such outcomes to luck (luck-oriented persons) cope differently with decision making under uncertainty. Chance-oriented persons decide according to given or estimated odds that define the decision problem. Luck-oriented persons, on the other hand, rely on self-attributions of personal luck, and ignore the probabilities of decision outcomes. The hypothesized qualitative difference between the approaches of chance- and luck-oriented persons to decision making under uncertainty was supported substantially by the findings. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of stress on the suppression of erroneous competing responses

Abstract Evidence exists that the intention to perform certain cognitive tasks activates, unintentionally, competing responses and computations that intrude on the performance of the intended tasks. For the intended task to be performed effectively, such intrusions must be controlled. Two experiments were carried out to test the hypothesis that stress heightens the difficulty of exercising effective control over erroneous competing responses, a possible explanation of decrements in the performance of cognitive tasks under stress. Participants performed four tasks, which contained features that could potentially prime or activate erroneous responses. The results demonstrated that the interference of these features with performance was more pronounced among stressed than among less-stressed participants. The need for a more comprehensive theory of the effects of stress on information processing is discussed.     

Attribution of Control as a Determinant of Cooperation in Exchange Interactions

Parties to conflict and to exchange interactions typically experience a considerable uncertainty as to the intentions and strategic plans of their adversaries. Such uncertainty is threatening and can therefore elicit competitive responses. Perceived control over an adversary's actions and over the course of an interaction can reduce uncertainty, lower the perceived risk of exploitation, and thus facilitate cooperative responses. This mediating role of perceived control was demonstrated in two experiments. They showed that certain patterns of change in one party's strategy enhanced the other party's perception of control and, concurrently, increased the frequency of its cooperative responses. A third experiment showed that variations in perceived control affect the tendency to cooperate, even if such variations are not directly related to or induced by the adversary's strategy.     

Revising the Communication Mediation Model for a New Political Communication Ecology

A long tradition of research focuses on conversation as a key catalyst for community integration and a focal mediator of media influence on participation. Changes in media systems, political environments, and electoral campaigning demand that these influences, and the communication mediation model, be revised to account for the growing convergence of media and conversation, heightened partisan polarization, and deepening social contentiousness in media politics. We propose a revised communication mediation model that continues to emphasize the centrality of face‐to‐face and online talk in democratic life, while considering how mediational and self‐reflective processes that encourage civic engagement and campaign participation might also erode institutional legitimacy, foster distrust and partisan divergence, disrupting democratic functioning as a consequence of a new communication ecology.