The focus of this chapter is on persuasion and attitude change in negotia­tion, mediation, and conflict resolution.

We define persuasion as the principles and processes by which people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors are formed, modified, or resist change in the face of others’ attempts at influ­ence.

Persuasion is distinct from coercion in that persuasion involves influence designed to change people’s minds, whereas coercion involves influence designed to change people’s behavior (with little regard for whether they have actually changed their minds). For example, in a conflict between labor and management, company employees might attempt to persuade the managers to raise wages by pointing out that higher wages will increase motivation and commitment among workers, thereby benefiting the company as a whole. Or, they might attempt to coerce the managers to raise wages by threatening to strike if their demands are not met. Research on social influence has established that if public compliance is not accompanied by private acceptance (in this case, truly believing that there is good reason to raise wages), the outcomes of influence are typically ephemeral and unstable. (See Eagly and Chaiken, 1993.) Persuasion is therefore an impor­tant tool in creating lasting settlements between parties in conflict.

This chapter was written with the partial support of a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship to the first author.

Although many participants in negotiation bring an impressive amount of implicit knowledge to the conflict resolution setting, an increased understanding of the principles and processes that underlie persuasion can help improve the processes and outcomes of a negotiation. In this chapter, we review major theories and findings in the field of persuasion, summarize related research in negotiation or intergroup settings, and discuss implications for conflict resolution.