Assessing Message Affect in Crisis Negotiations An Exploratory Study

In this study, patterns of perpetrator and negotiator message affect behavior in three actual crisis negotiation incidents are examined. The unit of analysis is the uninterrupted talking turn. Overall findings offer reliable support for the coding schemes employed in the study to measure message affect. Using the Michigan State Police four-stage (Introduction and Establishing Contact, Relationship Building, Problem Negotiation, and Resolution) strategic model of negotiation as a template, the study points to some preliminary results concerning patterns of emotional arousal during different phases of crisis negotiation. In all three incidents, perpetrators experienced an increase in message affect during the Establishing Contact stage of negotiation, followed by a general decrease in affect as the interaction moved to Relationship Building. However, when negotiators attempted to shift into the Problem-Solving and Resolution stages, perpetrator message affect varied by incident type and outcome. In the one resolved incident (Mental/Emotional Instability), perpetrator message affect increased in positiveness through the Resolution stage. For the Suicide incident, perpetrator affect became increasingly more negative up through the fatal end of the interaction. The Domestic incident was marked by notable variance in perpetrator affect up to the point where the perpetrator reneged on the plan to surrender. These findings offer initial insight into message affect patterns in successfully and unsuccessfully resolved crisis incidents.     

The Influence of Social Identity and Intimacy of Interethnic Relationships on Uncertainty Reduction Processes

This study examined the influence of social identity and the intimacy of relationships on uncertainty reduction processes in interethnic relationships. Data from two samples (Hispanics in the Midwest and Caucasians in the Southwest) were used to test hypotheses derived from social identity theory (e.g., Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and theories of relationship development (e.g., Altman & Taylor, 1973). Results for both samples revealed that social identity has a significant positive effect on uncertainty reduction processes. This effect, however, was moderated by prototypicality; that is, it occurred in relationships where the partner was viewed as “typical,” but not in relationships where the partner was viewed as “atypical.” When controlling for the partner's ethnicity in the Caucasian analysis, social identity had a significant effect on communication with black partners, but not with Mexican-American partners. This finding was explained by status characteristic theory (e.g., Berger & Zelditch, 1985). The intimacy of interethnic relationship also accounted for a significant portion of the variance. The effect for intimacy was manifested in relationships where the partner was viewed as typical, as well as when the partner was viewed as atypical. The results are consistent with social identity theory and recent work linking it with uncertainty reduction theory, as well as with theories of relationship development.