Mismatching the opponent's offers in negotiation

Mismatching in negotiation involves responding with high demands to the opponent's low demands and with low demands to the opponent's high demands. Prior research has shown that the opponent's demands are often mismatched but that this effect is attenuated when information is available about the outcomes achieved by the opponent from the available alternatives. The present research showed that mismatching was also attenuated when the negotiator knew the location of the opponent's limit (the alternative beyond which the opponent would not concede). Two new interpretations of the attenuation effect were suggested on the basis of this finding. In addition, women were found to engage in more mismatching than men, being particularly likely to exploit a soft opponent.