| Most decision making situations are characterized by the fact that group members have different and opposed needs, interests, opinions and preferences. Hence, they need to negotiate about what each shall give and take to reach a joint group judgment or decision. This project aims at a better understanding of small group negotiation by studying the influence of social and epistemic motivation on negotiation processes (persuasion and problem solving behaviours during negotiation) and negotiation outcomes (impasse, lazy compromises, or win-win solutions benefiting all parties involved). It is argued that small group negotiations are characterized by specific task structures whether stable majority coalitions are likely or not and the need for a specific decision rule majority decides, or unanimity required. Four experiments examine the main and interaction effects between social and epistemic motivaton on the one hand, and task-structure and decision rule on the other. |
