Walking the Talk in Multiparty Bargaining: An Experimental Investigation

We study the framing effects of communication in multiparty bargaining. Communication has been shown to be more truthful and revealing than predicted in equilibrium. Because talk is preference-revealing, it may effectively frame bargaining around a logic of fairness or competition, moving parties on a path toward or away from equal-division agreements. These endogenous framing effects may outweigh any overall social utility effects due to the mere presence of communication. In two experiments, we find that non-binding talk of fairness within a three-party, complete-information game leads toward off-equilibrium, equal division payoffs, while non-binding talk focusing on competitive reasoning moves parties away from equal divisions. Our two studies allow us to demonstrate that spontaneous within-game dialogue and manipulated pre-game talk lead to the same results.communication, fairness, bargaining

Looking Up and Looking Out: Career Mobility Effects of Demographic Similarity Among Professionals

We investigate the role of workgroup gender and race composition on the career mobility of professionals in “up-or-out” organizations. We develop a nuanced perspective on the potential career mobility effects of workgroup demography by integrating the social identification processes of cohesion, competition, and comparison. Using five years of personnel data from a large law firm, we examine the influence of demographic match with workgroup superiors and workgroup peers on attorneys’ likelihood of turnover and promotion. Survival analyses reveal that higher proportions of same-sex superiors enhance junior professionals’ career mobility. On the flip side, we observe mobility costs accruing to professionals in workgroups with higher proportions of same-sex and same-race peers. Qualitative data offer insights into the social identification processes underlying demographic similarity effects on turnover and promotion in professional service organizations

An Outside-Inside Evolution in Gender and Professional Work

We study the process by which a professional service firm reshaped its activities and beliefs over nearly two decades as it adapted to shifts in the social discourse regarding gender and work. Analyzing archival data from the firm over eighteen years and representations of gender and work from the business press over the corresponding two decades, we find that the firm internalized the broader social discourse through iterated cycles of analysis and action, punctuated by evolving beliefs about gender and work. Outside experts and shifting social understandings played pivotal roles in changing beliefs and activities inside the firm. We conclude with an internalization model depicting organizational adaptation to evolving social institutions

Negotiation Processes As Sources of (And Solutions To) Interorganizational Conflict

We investigate how structural features of negotiations can affect interaction processes and how negotiations can be not only a solution to, but also a source of, inter-organizational conflict. Principals, agents, and teams face different sets of constraints and opportunities in negotiations. We develop grounded theory detailing how the micro-interactions comprising a negotiation are shaped by the representation structure (principals, agents, or teams) of the parties. In qualitative and quantitative analyses of negotiations carried out by principals, agents, and teams in a laboratory experiment, we find that negotiators’ efforts to manage the constraints and opportunities of their representation structure are reflected in the micro-interactions, the broad improvisations, and the resulting substantive and relational outcomes

Source‐based morphometry reveals structural brain pattern abnormalities in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome

22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) is the most frequently occurring microdeletion in humans. It is associated with a significant impact on brain structure, including prominent reductions in gray matter volume (GMV), and neuropsychiatric manifestations, including cognitive impairment and psychosis. It is unclear whether GMV alterations in 22q11DS occur according to distinct structural patterns. Then, 783 participants (470 with 22q11DS: 51% females, mean age [SD] 18.2 [9.2]; and 313 typically developing [TD] controls: 46% females, mean age 18.0 [8.6]) from 13 datasets were included in the present study. We segmented structural T1‐weighted brain MRI scans and extracted GMV images, which were then utilized in a novel source‐based morphometry (SBM) pipeline (SS‐Detect) to generate structural brain patterns (SBPs) that capture co‐varying GMV. We investigated the impact of the 22q11.2 deletion, deletion size, intelligence quotient, and psychosis on the SBPs. Seventeen GMV‐SBPs were derived, which provided spatial patterns of GMV covariance associated with a quantitative metric (i.e., loading score) for analysis. Patterns of topographically widespread differences in GMV covariance, including the cerebellum, discriminated individuals with 22q11DS from healthy controls. The spatial extents of the SBPs that revealed disparities between individuals with 22q11DS and controls were consistent with the findings of the univariate voxel‐based morphometry analysis. Larger deletion size was associated with significantly lower GMV in frontal and occipital SBPs; however, history of psychosis did not show a strong relationship with these covariance patterns. 22q11DS is associated with distinct structural abnormalities captured by topographical GMV covariance patterns that include the cerebellum. Findings indicate that structural anomalies in 22q11DS manifest in a nonrandom manner and in distinct covarying anatomical patterns, rather than a diffuse global process. These SBP abnormalities converge with previously reported cortical surface area abnormalities, suggesting disturbances of early neurodevelopment as the most likely underlying mechanism

Communicating Frames in Negotiations

The conundrum of communication in bargaining has been resolved only in part. While theorists and empiricists have come to agree that communication can enhance bargaining efficiency through honest revelation and coordination, the spirit of Farrell’s conclusion from over two decades ago still holds: ―The role of talk in games is still little understood (1988: 213). Given the opportunity, bargainers tend to over-communicate—to share more information, more honestly, than predicted in equilibrium. Speakers are more revealing than dictated by their economic interests and receivers place more weight on unverifiable information than theory suggests is rational (Blume & Ortmann, 2007; Cai & Wang, 2006). As a result, communication prior to or during bargaining tends to increase, though it cannot guarantee, outcome efficiency in games with private information (Crawford, 1990; Farrell &amp