Negotiation: Pathos
I planned on getting this second part to the series out on Tuesday, but I had an Internet outage. Here is part 2 of the 3 modes of explanation. So here goes...
Understanding Pathos
Pathos is a Greek word for suffering or experience. Every experience you have in life evokes a certain emotion in you. Happiness and Suffering are often among them. Pathos is a communication technique used most often in rhetoric and in literature, film and other narrative art.
By being able to understand the emotion conveyed, it becomes possible to empathise with certain emotions. In art, it is the connection that you can create with the Subject. Think of a movie or series. A good director is able to really create a relatable character that you get attached to. When they feel pain, you react...
Aristotle details why individual emotions are useful to a speaker. Put simply; Understanding of a person's emotion allows you to gain an advantage by formulating your speech to evoke those emotions.
Negotiation
A useful thing to remember in negotiation is that your opponent is a person like you. They have had experiences that were both positive and negative. Some people are more predisposed to anger or sadness than others. Knowing the likely reaction from a person makes it easier to plan your strategy for negotiation.
People predisposed to sadness are likely to be more agreeable. Being agressive in this situation may do more harm than good. Appeal to the sensibilities of the person. Connect with them and at least try to create an inter-personal relationship in the time you have. Empathic responses are the easiest way to form trust and therefore conclude negotiations.
People predisposed to anger are a lot harder to negotiate with. Understand your role in this situation. Do they need you or do you need them? If you need them, your strategy is going to invovle a lot of ego stroking. They will be brazen and often have short direct responses. Make them feel that they need you. On the other hand, if they need you or your service, use their anger to your advantage. Point out that they need you and use their response to form the basis for negotiation. When they are angry, you must be stubborn as they are more likely to give ground simply to get out of there.
There are many other emotions to work with and a deep understanding of the psychology of people may be useful...
Great post, good explanation on how it works in relation to negotiation. Looking forward to part III.
Thanks for sharing. People often don't realize how much better they can make their situation with negotiation. This is especially true when starting a new job.