Reactions When the Honesty or Dishonesty of the Other Bargainer Is Discovered

Abstract

The experiments were simulated bargaining sessions in which subjects bargained via written offers over the division of a hypothetical 90. Subjects drew a number (break-even point) which indicated the amount they had to exceed in order to make a profit. Written statements about one's break-even point were permitted. Unbeknownst to the subjects, they actually bargained against a programmed opponent. Experiment I involved one-against-one bargaining (bilateral monopoly) with the factors varied being opponent's break-even point statement (honest, dishonest, none) and sex of the subject. During the course of the bargaining, the subject learned the opponent's break-even point and, therefore, the opponent's honesty or dishonesty. Experiment 2 was a bilateral monopoly experiment in which the subject learned the opponent's break-even point before the bargaining began. Subject's break-even point (10, 20, 30) and opponent's comment (honest, dishonest, none) were varied. In Experiment 3 the subject bargained simultaneously with one honest and one dishonest opponent, but was permitted to reach an agreement with only one. In the bilateral monopoly experiments, subjects imitated the opponent's statement (honest, dishonest or none). Neither the final offer nor the frequency of agreement was affected by the opponent's honesty. In the third experiment, subjects usually made no break-even point statement to either opponent. When an agreement was reached, it was more frequently with the honest opponent.

Honesty in negotiation

“…While some writers argue that deception in bargaining is often justified as a form of selfdefense (Carson 1993: 318, Cramton andDees 1991), others question its necessity or justification (Adler and Bigoness 1992: 354). Some wellknown historical figures and some recent writers have advocated complete honesty (for references see Chertkoff et al 1977: 21±22, Henderson 1989, Englehardt and Evans 1994. Honesty is unconditional, and`a good negotiator should resist the temptation to be dishonest when dealing with a partner whose honesty is questionable' (Nyerges 1987: 24).…”