Making a Positive Impression in a Negotiation: Gender Differences in Response to Impression Motivation

Abstract

Prior research has demonstrated the phenomenon of stereotype reactance, whereby men and women behave in contrast to gender stereotypes, when those stereotypes are activated explicitly (Kray, Thompson, & Galinsky, 2001). The authors propose and present an experiment demonstrating a new mechanism for stereotype reactance—namely, impression motivation, or the degree to which people are motivated to control how others see them (Leary & Kowalski, 1990). Participants randomly assigned to represent either a high-status recruiter or a low-status job candidate engaged in a standard employment negotiation simulation. Half the participants were offered an additional incentive to make a positive impression on their negotiation counterparts. As hypothesized, men and women in the high-status role responded to impression motivation in a manner that contradicted gender stereotypes. Men responded to impression motivation by yielding value to their subordinates, whereas women responded by claiming value for themselves.