NFLUENCING MEDIATOR BEHAVIOR THROUGH BARGAINER FRAMING

Research adopting prospect theory to examine negotiator performance was extended to mediation. We examined whether framing negotiator payoffs in terms of gains or losses affects a mediator's behavior towards negotiators when the mediator has no personal frame. The use of a mediator presents a critical test between an explanation of framing effects based on bargainers' underlying preferences for risk and a simpler explanation based on the psychophysical properties of perceived gains and losses. A computer‐based experiment was conducted in which subjects acted as mediators between two disputants (computer programs) in an integrative bargaining task. As predicted, subjects proposed settlements of higher joint value when both disputants had loss frames than when both had gain frames, supporting the psychophysical explanation. Moreover, within mixed framed disputes, subjects' proposals favored the loss‐framed bargainer over the gain‐framed bargainer. However, predicted interactions between bargainer frame and concession‐making activity were not supported Implications of the results for real bargainers and mediators are discussed.