Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

(lily) #1
negotiation. The norm of reciprocity holds that when
one negotiator makes a concession to the other, the
other is obliged to respond in kind. Thus, a legal nego-
tiator may elicit a concession from the other side by
offering a concession of his or her own. Moreover, a
legal negotiator might make an extreme demand that
is likely to be rejected, followed by a more moderate
request—the moderation of the request may be per-
ceived as a concession and, thus, may elicit a recipro-
cal concession. In psychology, this is known as the
“rejection-then-retreat” strategy. Legal negotiators
may also invoke authority, scarcity, social proof, or
familiarity and liking as strategies of social influence
in negotiation.

Emotion
Legal disputes can involve intense emotions, such as
anger, and such emotions are known to play a central
role in negotiation. Negotiators experiencing positive
emotions tend to make more concessions and to be
more likely to engage in problem-solving behavior.
Conversely, negotiators experiencing negative emo-
tion tend to be more likely to use hard-bargaining
strategies and less likely to create joint gain.
One specific emotion that has been explored in the
legal context is the role of regret in legal negotiation.
Research has found that disputants may prefer to
reach negotiated settlements in legal cases rather than
go to trial, in part due to a desire to minimize the
regret they anticipate experiencing following their
decision. Disputants who choose to settle are not able
to know what the outcome of their case would have
been had it gone to trial and are, thus, able to avoid the
regret that would attend the knowledge that a trial
would have resulted in a better outcome. In contrast,
disputants who choose to go to trial will ultimately be
aware not only of the outcome of the trial but also of
any settlement offers they had rejected. Therefore, it is
possible that they will experience the regret of know-
ing that they could have obtained a better result
through settlement—regret they would prefer to avoid.

Agents/Lawyers
One of the distinctive features of much legal negotia-
tion is that the principal parties—the legal clients—are
often represented by attorneys as agents. As agents,
attorneys are likely to engage in settlement negotia-
tions in ways that differ from those of their clients.
For example, as nonparties, attorneys can be more

detached from the emotions underlying the dispute.
Similarly, attorneys are selected and trained to be
highly analytical. Moreover, given their role as legal
advisors, attorneys are likely to be more familiar with
and attuned to the legal rules than are their clients.
These differences give attorneys some advantages in
handling legal disputes. For example, attorneys may be
able to avoid the impasse that might result when the
parties are too emotional to negotiate with each other.
However, these differences also present attorneys with
some challenges in representing clients in negotiation.
For example, attorneys may need to pay special atten-
tion to clients’ nonlegal psychological, emotional, and
social interests to negotiate effectively on their behalf.

Jennifer K. Robbennolt

See alsoAlternative Dispute Resolution; Plea Bargaining;
Procedural Justice

Further Readings
Birke, R., & Fox, C. R. (1999). Psychological principles in
negotiating civil settlements. Harvard Negotiation Law
Review, 4,1.
Korobkin, R., & Guthrie, C. (1997). Psychology, economics,
and settlement: A new look at the role of the lawyer.
Texas Law Review, 76,77–141.
Loewenstein, G., Issacharoff, S., Camerer, C., & Babcock, L.
(1993). Self-serving assessments of fairness and pretrial
bargaining. Journal of Legal Studies, 22,135–159.
Ross, L., & Ward, A. (1995). Psychological barriers to
dispute resolution. Advances in Experimental Social
Psychology, 27,255–304.
Schneider, A. K., & Honeyman, C. (Eds.). (2006). The
negotiator’s fieldbook: The desk reference for the
experienced.Washington, DC: American Bar Association
Section of Dispute Resolution.

LEGALSOCIALIZATION


Legal socialization is the process of developing atti-
tudes toward rules, laws, and the legal system. Legal
socialization research studies this process and also
examines why individuals choose to obey or disobey
the law. In fact, the first approaches to studies of atti-
tudes toward the law appear in the legal socialization
literature. Factors that affect how these attitudes
develop include cognitive developmental variables,
such as legal reasoning, and social learning variables,

450 ———Legal Socialization

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