The Rationality of Rage. NEW YORK TIMES. Expressing anger is known to be a useful tool in negotiations. Indeed, in the past few years, researchers have been learning more about when and how to deploy anger productively. Consider a forthcoming paper in the November issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. Researchers tested the effectiveness of expressing anger in three types of negotiations: those that are chiefly cooperative (starting a business with a partner), chiefly competitive (dissolving a shared business), or balanced between the two (selling a business to a buyer). In two experiments, negotiators made greater concessions to those who expressed anger—but only in balanced situations. When cooperating, hostility seems inappropriate, and when competing, additional heat only flares tempers. But in between, anger appears to send a strategically
useful signal. (September 18, 2015)
