Emotions and Intuition

Abstract

In a paper published in 2010 in the journal Psychological Science, Hajo Adam, Aiwa Shirako, and William Maddux provide an example of the counter-productive use of emotions in negotiations (52). The negotiations they describe related to the trade deficit talks that President Bill Clinton carried on with Japan. Determined to reduce the deficit of almost $60 billion, the president employed a particularly tough and aggressive stance in the negotiations with Japan. They say, “In one summit with Japanese Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in February 1994, Clinton used some of the bluntest language by a US president with a Japanese leader to persuade Japan to open its auto-mobile, insurance, medical-equipment, and telecommunications markets. Even though Hosokawa urged Clinton to abandon threats and anger, Clinton kept up his combative tone throughout the negotiations, and hours of heated discussion ended in an impasse. Critics of Clinton’s trade policy towards Japan considered the negotiations a failure.