THE EFFECTS OF PARTISAN 3RD PARTIES ON NEGOTIATOR BEHAVIOR AND OUTCOME PERCEPTIONS

Two sources of third-party partisanship are: (1) the preexisting affil iation a third party may have with the negotiators and (2) the overt s upport a third party demonstrates by imposing an outcome. In 2 experim ents, subjects involved in a negotiation simulation were told prior to negotiation that the third party was either positively affiliated wit h their side or with their opponent's side. In both studies, third par ties imposed settlements on the disputants, reflecting varying degrees of overt support. The results suggest that negative third-party affil iation reduced disputant outcome expectations (thereby improving the l ikelihood of an agreement) and led to enhanced ratings of outcome and third-party satisfaction relative to favorable third-party affiliation . The results are consistent with predictions made by both prospect an d control theory