Other Content
Congressional Testimony
Social, Behavioral and Economic Science Research: Oversight of the Need for Federal Investments and Priorities for Funding.
I recently served as an expert witness testifying before Congress at the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, during a hearing that they held with the goal to educate members about the value to the US taxpayer of the social and behavioral sciences. For a copy of my statements, and other information about the hearing, just click on the links below:
Written statement for the record
Written responses to Questions for the record
Official website regarding the hearing, including link to archived webcast
(will have transcripts posted soon)
The Subjective Value Inventory
Some people behave as though the most important aspect of a negotiation is the agreement that they reached, while others maintain the importance of fairness, developing relationships, and maintaining their standards. Curhan, Elfenbein, & Xu (2006) surveyed a broad spectrum of lay people, negotiation researchers, and negotiation practitioners about what they valued in a negotiation.
Results suggested that negotiators tend to care about four basic domains: (a) feelings about the instrumental outcome (i.e., the terms of the deal), including subjective perceptions about whether the economic outcome was desirable, balanced, and consistent with principles of legitimacy and precedent; (b) feelings about the self, including losing face versus feeling competent and satisfied that one has behaved appropriately; (c) feelings about the negotiation process, including the perception that one has been heard and been treated fairly; and (d) feelings about the relationship among the negotiators, including positive impressions, trust, and a solid foundation for working together in the future.
Resulting from this research is our Subjective Value Inventory (SVI), a 16-item self-report questionnaire that is freely available for research and classroom settings. Using it can help negotiators learn to conceptualize their performance in a negotiation along multiple dimensions—dimensions that our later research showed can lead to long-term value.
For more information about the Curhan, Elfenbein, & Xu (2006) Subjective Value Inventory, please click here. http://www.subjectivevalue.com
