Acommon misconception held by negotiators and dispute resolution professionals is that conflict escalation, stalemates, impasses, and lose- lose agreements are driven by intransigence and self-interested motivation.
Whereas self-interest and opposing motivations do interfere with productively resolving conflict, there are many seemingly benign beliefs and cognitions that also interfere with effective conflict resolution but often go undetected.
Unfortunately, these beliefs are not easily corrected during the process of conflict resolution itself because it is difficult for negotiators to monitor them. Furthermore, third-party intervention is no guarantee that erroneous beliefs and cognitions will be adequately identified and eliminated. In fact, the mere presence of a third party may exaggerate the tendency of these faulty and erroneous beliefs to disturb the otherwise effective resolution of conflict. Further, third parties and other self-proclaimed neutrals often fall prey to similar cognitive bias.We argue in this chapter that identifying and challenging negotiator biases can do much to effectively resolve dispute and conflict of interest. Unfortunately, most negotiators are not aware of the existence of cognitive biases and their deleterious effects. In the first section, we introduce our basic framework and key assumptions. In the second section, we provide illustrative examples of the effects of cognitive bias on conflict management. Finally, we examine methods for eliminating or reducing cognitive bias at the bargaining table.