How emotions work: The social functions of emotional expression in negotiations

Behavioral research on negotiation in recent years has been dominated by th e decision-making research paradigm, which accords a relatively narrow role to emotions. Decision-making researchers have considered emotions primaril y in terms of how an individual's positive or negative affect impacts, and usually impedes, his or her information processing. Drawing on recent advan ces in psychology and other fields, we propose an alternative perspective t hat highlights more social and more functional aspects of emotion in negoti ation. We conceptualize emotions as interpersonal communication systems tha t help individuals navigate the basic problems that arise in dyad and group relations. Emotions are evoked by these specific relational problems and o ne person's emotional expression impacts other persons, often with the cons equence of resolving the relational problem. From this social functional pe rspective, we draw insights concerning: (a) the influence of specific emoti ons upon negotiation-related cognition and behavior; (b) the transitions be tween qualitatively different phases within negotiations; and (c) the ways in which negotiations are shaped by contextual variables such as culture an d communication media.