Max Bazerman

Laura Cray, now at Berkeley, suggests that that's no longer true.

So we need to understand the culture and the time and the place and what's appropriate and take that into consideration as we develop our own strategy.

Absolutely.

So Shankar, let's assume that we're acquaintances, which we are, but we've never had dinner together.

And so let's assume that I'm the one selling the car for $6,000.

And I think, you know, I'm happy with $5,500.

And since you're my acquaintance...

You know, I'd probably even be okay selling it to you for $5,000 and taking a little bit less than what I think the market could bear.

But when you open with that $100 offer or even a $3,000 offer, I think, wait a second, I was dealing with you as if our relationship matters.

Your unreasonable offer suggests this is a very different world.

Right.

So not only do we get a breakdown in the negotiation, but I don't like you as well because of the way you handled that particular situation.

Absolutely.

If you'll recall in the taxi story, I knew that my students were going to quiz me the next day on what did I pay for the taxi.

But my spouse in that story, who was standing on the street, not in the taxi because of my frugalness, would very much be on Roxanna's side of that story.

So I think that we should often

consider the nature of the relationship, the nature of the transaction, how important the money is to us when we decide whether and how aggressively we should negotiate.

So despite the fact that I may be on the wrong side of Roxanna's argument, I'm going to side with her in terms of the general point she's making.

Yeah, or I would say reframe it as to there's a better uses of your time than haggling with somebody over a small amount of money who needs some money more than you.

So there's too much harm that occurs in the divorce process in too many cases.