Making Sense of the Sacred

In this note I examine the concept of sacred values. Some commentators have recommended avoiding the question or postponing negotiations until other issues have been settled, whereas others have suggested that few sacred values cannot be rendered into some form of trade‐off (i.e., they are pseudosacred). Here, I follow Scott Atran and Robert Axelrod and argue that ritual and the sacred can be an important component of negotiation and, when addressed effectively, have great potential to break impasse. I first examine the notion of the sacred and its near synonyms, the priceless and the intrinsically valuable. I then look at the issue of valuing life and show that although society places limits on lives as a matter of policy, it paradoxically funds heroic acts, such as mine rescues, which defy economic justification. These acts turn out to fulfill an important symbolic and ritualistic function. Finally, I draw out three implications of the framework for negotiators: negotiators should engage in some form of values clarification among the parties, material compromise by one party does not necessarily indicate that that party's values were not ultimate or that these have been relinquished, and considerable weight should be placed on ritualistic and symbolic gestures with regard to values.     

The Curse of the Smartphone: Electronic Multitasking in Negotiations

In this study, we have explored the use of mobile phones during negotiations. Specifically, we examined the effects that multitasking — reading messages on a mobile phone while negotiating face to face — had on the outcome achieved in a negotiation, as well as on perceptions of professionalism, trustworthiness, and satisfaction. Using an experimental design in a face‐to‐face dyadic negotiation, we found that multitasking negotiators achieved lower payoffs and were perceived as less professional and less trustworthy by their partners.     

从松花江污染事故看跨界污染损害赔偿问题的解决途径

假定松花江污染事故造成了跨界污染损害,就有了如何对待跨界污染损害赔偿的问题。在这个问题上,有国家赔偿、国际民事赔偿以及外交谈判和协商三种基本的方式。基于法律解决国家赔偿和国际民事赔偿的选择不是最佳的,基于外交解决的谈判与协商应是中俄双方应当采取的妥善的解决办法。     

论“尧天舜日”之颂和“和谐社会”之追求

无论是从生态思想方面还是从道德文化方面来看“和谐社会”，显然是对“尧天舜日”的否定之否定。“和谐社会”既带有“尧天舜日”的某些痕迹，又包含许多新的更高的特点，不是简单的历史循环，而是走向更高级的阶段。     

What Is Training All About?

This article compares "training" to "education" generally and, specifically, with respect to the question of how this distinction plays a role in teaching negotiation and the possible emergence of a "second generation" of negotiation theory and practice.     

Modem Expressions of Gender： Wang Hanlun＇s Film Acting and Negotiation of Sex

王汉伦是“中国电影史上的第一位电影女明星”。本文通过对王汉伦电影人生图景的素描，说明性别现代化的历程同时也是女性视觉化的过程。现代媒介对所谓新女性的图绘，则恰如王汉伦电影《弃妇》二字所做的媒介隐喻。王汉伦通过电影申述了自己的女性观，但个体的努力在媒体角色与社会角色的性别协商中终归影响甚微。现代性权力最终主导了艺术与社会中的性别表演和性别认同。     

Sharks, Saints, and Samurai: The Power of Ethics in Negotiations

In this article, I explore the notion that ethics, far from being a check or drag on negotiator power, can actually help to enhance it. As the example of Nelson Mandela negotiating with the South African government showed, ethics (or at least the perception of being ethical) can be a major source of power, diminishing or even neutralizing many other weaknesses. I explore some of the principal ethical dilemmas facing negotiators and illustrate the sometimes surprising ways that "right" ethical choices can actually increase negotiator power. This occurs not only in the more superficial case of instrumental or even prudential ethics, (the province of "saints" and "sharks"), where "right" behavior is employed to gain short-term advantage or to improve long-term negotiator reputation, but even more so in the case of intrinsic "principled" negotiation, where the "right" thing is done for its own sake. As in the case of the medieval Japanese samurai, ethics can be a major source of power. This thesis is then illustrated anecdotally in three practical examples, leading to a proposal for how to deepen and apply this lesson to negotiation analysis and practice.     

浅议人质解救中谈判的目的

正确认识人质谈判的目的是充分发挥谈判作用的前提,人质解救中的谈判主要有以下目的:其一、通过谈判使犯罪嫌疑人主动释放人质;其二、通过谈判使案件向有利于解救人质的方向发展;其三、通过谈判可以了解犯罪嫌疑人和人质的情况,为武力解救人质探路和铺路。     

Gender Differences in Competition

Negotiating in a highly competitive environment may prove particularly challenging for women. We describe three experimental studies that investigated and documented differences in the competitive behaviors of men and women. The first study examined gender differences in competitive performances. In a setting in which men and women performed at similar levels in single-sex competitions, men were found to outperform women in mixed-sex competitions. The second study focused on the decision of men and women to enter a competition. In a mixed-sex setting in which we found no gender differences in performance, many more men than women chose a compensation scheme in which they had to compete against others. Finally, we report the results of a recent study that examined an institutional intervention that may encourage more women to compete. Specifically, we found that a quota-like affirmative action environment in which women must be equally represented encourages many more women to compete. This response was greater than one would predict based solely on the increase in one's chances of winning and can be partially explained by the fact that the affirmative action competition was more gender specific.