Originally published: . Volume 8, No. 5. Source pages: 2.
by Times publisher, J. Nelson I was reading one of my APS journals and ran across a study on first- mover disadvantage. The study had to do with negotiation and a host of related psychological factors––anchoring, judgment, interpersonal interactions, and so forth.
The authors were controlling for SVO––social value orientation. SVO varies from the proself side (self-centered and egotistic) to the prosocial side (altruistic). As we might expect, this is a mediating variable in negotiations. The interesting thing to me was the author’s reference to other findings that those high in proself characteristics aren’t as high in problem-solving. This is not surprising of course, stated as win-win and win-lose.
Since it is the political season I’ve been watching the Legislature––a combination of negotiation, poker, hypnosis and hide the thimble. I began to wonder what percentage of the people (probably most, especially of those who are there by choice) fall into the proself group.
While I think that, at least on the surface, these men and women are endeavoring to solve problems, I’m not convinced that they have a process that can: 1) identify the right problems to solve; 2) generate alternative solutions that can be reviewed without motivated reasoning; 3) analyze the impact of a solution on people (including the invisibles); and 4) measure the results and see if there is any actual evidence for a decision.
I watched Senator Morrell say he wanted some evidence, and it was a sobering question.
[Julie Nelson is a licensed psychologist, journalist, organizational consultant, and publisher of the Times. She also holds other various positions in the community. However, her opinions here are those of her own, and do not represent any group or association. She and the Times receive no money compensation other than paid advertizing. Email her at drj@drjulienelson.com, ––she welcomes feedback.]
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