The Naked Negotiator

David Myers,  Professor of Psychology is an expert on the psychology of fear. Psychological science, Myers tells us, has identified four factors that drive up our perceptions of risk.

1. We fear what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear. Thats why we fear snakes and spiders.

2. We fear what we cannot control. We feel more in control when we are driving a car than we do flying an airplane.

3. We fear what is immediate. We are more concerned about the risks of taking off in a plane than the risk of dying from cancer.

4. We fear threats readily available in memory. We easily recall the 9/11 images and they make us hesitant to fly. Our brains are not designed to easily recall the fact that, mile for mile, we are 37 times more likely to die in a passenger car than on a commercial flight.

No wonder our fears drive so many behaviors. Since fear is largely an emotional factor, negotiators need to actively manage emotions. While you cannot directly control what someone feels, you can influence the drivers that fuel negative emotions such as fear.

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