Feeling Competitiveness or Empathy Towards Negotiation Counterparts Mitigates Sex Differences in Lying

Every violation of truth is not only a sort of suicide in the liar, but is a stab at the health of human society.

–Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Abstract

Men typically express more willingness than women to perpetrate fraudulent acts like lying in negotiations. However, women express just as much willingness in some cases. We develop and test a theory to explain these mixed findings. Specifically, we hypothesize that situational cues that bring about competitive or empathic feelings mitigate sex differences in lying to negotiation counterparts. Results from four experiments confirm our hypotheses. Experiment 1 showed that men and women express equal willingness to lie when negotiating with counterparts toward whom they felt either great competitiveness or empathy. Experiment 2 extended these results by confirming that men only express more willingness to lie absent competitive or empathic feelings towards a counterpart. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrated that inducing competitive or empathic feelings toward a counterpart eliminated sex differences in lying by leading women to lie more and men to lie less, respectively. Overall, our results suggest that the extent to which negotiators experience competitive or empathic feelings play important roles in whether sex differences in lying in negotiations emerge.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Prompts Used in Experiment 1

Experimental Manipulation for Competitiveness-Inducing (Empathy-Inducing) Conditions.

Please tell us about someone* with whom you feel a great deal of competitiveness (empathy). By competitiveness (empathy), we mean that, in all situations, you view their wins as your losses (wins) and their losses as your wins (losses). As far as you are concerned, what is good for them is bad for you and what is bad for them is good for you (their joy is your joy and their pain is your pain).

Describe this person and why it is that you feel so competitive towards (so much empathy towards) them.

* You need not have a direct relationship with the other person (i.e., this could be a familiar stranger or a public figure).

Aggressive Negotiation Tactics Adapted from SINS Scale

• 1. Make an opening demand that is far greater than what you really hope to settle for.

• 2. Try to lead the other person to believe that they can only get what they want by negotiating with you, when in fact they could go elsewhere to get what they want cheaper or faster.

• 3. Try to gain information about the other person's negotiating position through their social network (e.g., associates, family, friends, and so on).

• 4. Exaggerate the attractiveness of your alternatives to making a deal with this person so it appears that you have more bargaining power than you actually do.

• 5. Hide your real bottom line.

• 6. Promise things that you know you cannot or will not deliver.

• 7. Threaten to do something that would harm the other person if they do not give you what you want, even if you know you will never follow through on the threat.

• 8. Intentionally misrepresent factual information in order to support your negotiating arguments or position.

Appendix 2: Prompts Used in Experiment 2

The Scenario

You own and manage a jewelry shop in your town. Like most jewelers, you make money by selling new and used jewelry items, including rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. Unlike most jewelers, you have a side business helping people buy and sell rare coins. You started your rare coin business because you find them interesting and it provided you another way to put your expertise in precious metals to good use.

People who want to buy or sell rare coins often send you emails or text messages with pictures of and background information about them. Thanks to the high resolution of modern digital cameras, these pictures usually give you enough information to evaluate the coins with a high degree of confidence.

The Inquiry from Terry

Hi,

I recently found an old dime (10-cent coin) in the attic of my house. I have no idea if the dime is even legit let alone of any value, but heard it is probably worth between $50 and $200. Just in case, here’re pictures of both sides.

If you find a buyer, please let me know what you would get for it and how much you would take as your commission.

Also, I don’t like to haggle so please just give me a first-and-final offer.

Thanks,

Terry

[image of coin omitted]

The Client [Control/Competitiveness-Inducing/Empathy-Inducing]

Because your town is neither very large nor very small, you do business with about the same number of people you don’t know as you do know. In this case, you do not know Terry personally (and know nothing of Terry’s reputation/ but know of Terry’s reputation as the owner and operator of the largest and most profitable jewelry shop in town/ but know of Terry’s reputation as a well-respected senior citizen in your community). Indeed, you have (never heard from or of nor transacted business with Terry before and may never do so again/ heard how Terry brags about winning customers from you and other jewelers and dreams of putting you all out of business / heard heart-warming stories about how Terry often sells off personal belongings to purchase gifts for underprivileged children). For this reason, (your feelings about Terry are neutral/you feel very competitive toward Terry/ you feel a great deal of empathy toward Terry).

The Decision

As luck would have it, you already have a buyer looking for a dime like Terry’s to complete a set of early nineteenth century U.S. coins. The buyer has reviewed the pictures and offered you $150.00 for the dime.

It is time to decide how you would respond to the client's inquiry. As you make your decision, keep three things in mind:

• 1. The client knows nothing about the buyer's offer, but expects an amount between $50 and $200.

• 2. Because the client is unwilling to negotiate, you will lose the deal and both of you will get no money if your offer is rejected.

• 3. There are no formal standards, but many people believe an even split (each gets half) of the sale price is fair in this situation.

Now please complete the following two messages to send to the client as you would if you were actually in this situation. Again, all your responses are anonymous and cannot be linked back to you personally so please indicate how you would complete the following two parts of the proposal:

• 1. I have a buyer who is willing to pay $______ for your dime.

• 2. I offer you $____ of the sale price. I will keep the rest as my commission.

Comprehension Check

Please confirm that you understood the instructions for the exercise you just completed by entering the correct responses below.

• 1. What was the actual amount your buyer was willing to pay for the dime?

• 2. If your client rejects your proposal, how much profit would you have received?