Correlations Between Motivations

Cognitive processes and strategic choices are influenced by more than one motivational goal. In fact, certain variables have a dual (or even triple) role, in that they affect social, epistemic, and impression motivation simultaneously. A good example is power: low-power negotiators were argued to have higher epistemic motivation and to be more concerned with impression management than were powerful negotiators. Furthermore, there is some evidence that power asymmetry makes selfish motivation more likely than power balance (Giebels et al., 2000).

That certain variables have effects on more than one motivational goal is not to say that these motivational goals are necessarily related. In fact, there is increasing evidence that the three classes of motivational goals discussed in this chapter are unrelated and that negotiators may have more or less epistemic motivation regardless their social motive or their desire to make a specific kind of impression. For example, De Dreu et al., (2000a) manipulated process accountability in a face-to-face integrative negotiation task. Manipulation checks confirmed that negotiators under process accountability had higher levels of epistemic motivation than negotiators not held accountable. In two experiments, process accountability did not influence self-reported social motivation. Likewise, research has found no significant correlations between individual differences and epistemic and social motivation. In three different samples, De Dreu et al., (1999) examined the relationship between individual differences in the need for cognitive closure on the one hand, and social value orientation on the other. Results showed that need for cognitive closure did not differ as a function of social value orientation in either sample.