Examining the impact of emotion and agency on negotiator behavior

Abstract

Virtual human expressions can shape user behavior [1, 2, 3], yet in negotiation, findings have been underwhelming. For example, human negotiators can use anger to claim value (i.e., extract concessions) [4], but anger has no effect when exhibited by a virtual human [5]. Other psychological work suggests that emotions can create value (e.g., happy negotiators can better discover tradeoffs across issues that "grow the pie"), but little research has examined how virtual human expressions shape value creation. Here we present an agent architecture and pilot study that examines differences between how the emotional expressions of human and virtual-human opponents shape value claiming and value creation. We replicate the finding that virtual human anger fails to influence value claiming but discover counter-intuitive findings on value creation. We argue these findings highlight the potential for intelligent virtual humans to yield insight into human psychology.