Mind and Heart of the Negotiator, Second Edition, The

Individual Decision Making

Negotiation is ultimately about making decisions. If we cannot make good decisions on our own, joint decision making will be even more difficult. Let's examine individual rationality. Sometimes our decisions are trivial, such as whether to have chocolate cake or cherry pie for dessert. Other times, our decisions are of great consequence, such as when we choose a career or a spouse. Our decisions about how to spend the weekend may seem fundamentally different from deciding what to do with our entire life, but there are generalities that cut across domains. Rational decision-making models provide the tools necessary for analyzing trivial decisions as well as those of monumental importance. There are three main types of ...