N05: Perception, cognition, and Communication

 

 

Perception, cognition, and communication are fundamental processes that govern how individuals construct and interpret the interaction that takes place in a negotiation. Reduced to its essence, negotiation is a form of interpersonal communication, which itself is a subject of the broader category of human perception and communication.

 

Perception and negotiation:

The role of Perception negotiators approach each negotiation guided by their perceptions of past situations and current attitudes and behaviors. Perception is the process by which individuals connect to their environment. The perception is a “sense – making” process; people interpret their environment so that they can respond appropriately.

 

Framing:

A frame is the subjective mechanism through which people evaluate and make sense out of situations, leading them to pursue or avoid subsequent actions. Framing is about focusing, shaping, and organizing the world around us--making sense of complex realities and defining it in ways that are meaningful to us.

 

An important aspect of framing is the cognitive heuristics approach, which examines the ways in which negotiators make systematic errors in judgment when they process information.

 

The cognitive heuristic approach to framing focuses on how a party perceives and shapes the outcome (particularly with regard to risk), and how the party's frame tends to persist regardless of the events and information that follow it.

 

Mood, Emotion, and Negotiation:

            The role of mood and emotion in negotiation has been the subject of an increasing body of recent theory and research during the last decade. The distinction between mood and emotion is based on three characteristics: specificity, intensity, and duration. Mood states are more diffuse, less intense, and more enduring than emotion states, which tend to be more intense and directed at more specific targets. Emotions play important roles at various stages of negotiation interaction. There are many new and exciting developments in the study of mood, emotion, and negotiation, and we can present only a limited overview here. The following are some selected findings.

 

            The chapter discussed one of the most important recent areas of inquiry in negotiation, that of cognitive biases in negotiation. This was followed by consideration of ways to manage misperception and cognitive biases in negotiation. In a final section we considered mood and emotion in negotiation, which provides an important alternative to cognitive and perceptual processes for understanding negotiation behavior.

 

Question

1. What is the definition of perception? Think of it as the process of becoming aware of the world around you through your senses.

Your senses play a critical role in perception and behavior. They not only allow you to perceive your environment, they also enable you to act in response to it.

 

            Sensation and perception psychology is one of the oldest fields of study in social psychology. Below I'm going to take you through the process we go through to become aware of anything in our environments.

 

2. Why are Frames Important?

An essential element in conflict resolution is an understanding of how frames affect conflict development. In the context of a conflict, we create frames to help us understand why the conflict exists, what actions are important to the conflict, why the parties act as they do, and how we should act in response. During the evolution of a conflict, frames act as sieves through which information is gathered and analyzed, positions are determined (including priorities, means, and solutions), and action plans developed. Depending on the context, framing may be used to conceptualize and interpret, or to manipulate and convince.

 

3. How do you use emotion strategically in a negotiation?

As mentioned above, Fisher and Shapiro cogently argue for the use of the five core concerns as levers to create and enhance positive emotions in order to achieve a better negotiated outcome. Recent research has shown that both emotion and mood can have an effect on the behavior of the negotiator experiencing them, on the other party perceiving them, on the relationship between the parties, and on the negotiated outcome. However, the strategic use of emotion raises significant ethical issues.