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An Experimental Study of Black‐White Negotiations 1
Author(s) -
Davis Earl E.,
Triandis Harry C.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1971.tb00364.x
Subject(s) - negotiation , caucus , psychology , social psychology , antipodal point , subject (documents) , semantic differential , political science , law , mathematics , computer science , politics , library science , geometry
One hundred and forty variables tapping aspects of the subjective culture (characteristic way or perceiving the social environment) of 300 white male students were subjected to two‐mode factor analysis. Five subject types emerged from the similarities in the responses of the students to these variables. In the next phase of the study, 88 representatives of these subject types participated in experimental negotiations. Before the negotiations, caucus groups, consisting of six students homogeneous in their pretest scores, decided what positions should be upheld during the negotiations. Following the caucuses, three two‐member teams were formed, from each caucus group. The teams negotiated with two‐member black teams of confederates of the experimenters. Negotiations focused on three issues, each of which was represented by 10 Thurstone successive‐interval method scaled positions. Negotiation outcomes were predicted from the subjective culture measures ( r = .42; p < .005). The negotiation outcomes tended to be more predictable from the reference group (caucuses) preferred positions ( r = .65) than from individual preferences ( r = .36). Negotiators tended to overconform to caucus positions. Behavioral differential scale ratings of black negotiators predicted the outcomes better than semantic differential ratings of these stimuli. The more specific the attitude measured the more predictive it was of negotiation outcomes. Discussion focused on implications for understanding the relationship between attitudes and behavior and the process of black/white negotiations.