Part II: Individual differences, with Dr. Hillary Anger Elfenbein

Some people feel that they were born as good negotiators, but others – perhaps most of us – don’t feel that way. Should we just give up and accept our fates as bad negotiators? The answer is a resounding no! In this two-part episode, Dr. Hillary Anger Elfenbein from the Washington University in St. Louis Olin School of Business teaches us about how our personality and other traits – our individual differences – influence how we negotiate. In fact, these tendencies are deeply reinforced and may even be partly genetic. However, luckily for us there is no “right answer,” and every personality type has its plusses and minuses in the negotiation space. Dr. Elfenbein provides research-based advice and practical tips for how we can leverage our own personality characteristics to help our negotiations, and offers some sneak-peek insights on other exciting questions for future research on individual differences in negotiation.

Dr. Hillary Anger Elfenbein bio:

In her day job, Hillary Anger Elfenbein is the John and Ellen Wallace Distinguished Professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on emotion in the workplace, including emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationships, and subjective feelings about negotiation. Her work has appeared in leading academic journals, and she has served as an Associate Editor at Management Science. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a Master’s degree in Statistics, and undergraduate degrees in Physics and Sanskrit, all from Harvard University. In a Forrest Gump moment, her research was discussed on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives due to its implications for the armed services, and she testified before Congress as an expert witness on federal funding in the social sciences. She has held grants from the National Science Foundation and an early career award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Elfenbein was raised in Brooklyn, and attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City. Her husband Dan is a Professor at the Olin School in the Strategy group. They have two sons, both of whom are avid hockey players. As a stand-up comedian, she was voted one of the top 20 in St. Louis’ Funniest Person competition.

Articles referenced in the episode:

• Elfenbein, H. A., Eisenkraft, N., Curhan, J. R., & DiLalla, L. F. (2018). On the relative importance of individual-level characteristics and dyadic interaction effects in negotiations: Variance partitioning evidence from a twins study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103(1), 88–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000255
• Elfenbein, H. A., Curhan, J. R., Eisenkraft, N., Shirako, A., & Baccaro, L. (2008). Are some negotiators better than others? Individual differences in bargaining outcomes. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1463–1475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2008.06.010
• Elfenbein, H. A. (2015). Individual differences in negotiation: A nearly abandoned pursuit revived. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 131-136. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414558114
• Elfenbein, H. A. (2013). Individual differences in negotiation. In M. Olekalns & W. L. Adair (Eds.), Handbook of Research in Negotiation (pp. 25-45). London: Edward Elgar.