SELF-SERVING EVALUATIONS OF CONFLICT BEHAVIOR AND ESCALATION OF THE DISPUTE

There is good evidence that people generally tend to evaluate behavior s, contributions, and outcomes in terms favorable to the self. The pre sent series of studies expands this finding by showing that profession al negotiators (Study 1), governmental decision makers (Study 2), and organizational consultants (Study 3) make self-serving evaluations of conflict behavior: They view their own conflict behaviors as more cons tructive and as less destructive than those of their opponents. In add ition, results revealed that self-serving evaluation of conflict behav ior is associated with increased frustration, with reduced problem sol ving, and with enhanced likelihood of future conflict. It is argued th at these findings expand the conflict literature in that they provide better insight into the motivational-cognitive antecedents and consequ ences of conflict escalation.