Negotiation Process and out come of Stranger Dyads and Dating Couples: Do Lovers Lose?

This research assessed the influence of romantic involvement on the integrative bargaining of dating couples. The bargaining process and outcomes of 74 dating couples was compared with that of 32 mixed-sex stranger dyads. Romantic involvement was found to detract from the dyad's ability to discover mutually advantageous outcomes. Compared to stranger couples, dating couples had lower outcome aspirations, less frequently generated offers which facilitate the discovery of mutually beneficial outcomes, less frequently engaged in pressure (dominance) tactics, and more frequently exchanged information about profit values and priorities. It was argued that dating couples' concern for relationship maintenance decreased bargaining aspirations which in turn decreased their use of bargaining tactics which facilitate the discovery of high joint outcomes. Within dating couples analyses revealed some negative correlations between Rubin's Love Scale scores and both adaptive bargaining process utilization and outcome profitability.