Fairness in Bargaining: How Self-Selected Frames Affect the Fairness of Negotiation Outcomes

We investigate whether fair behavior in negotiations depends on the frame
given by an actor to a situation. To test this proposition, we study secondary
data from bargaining experiments. In the experiments, subjects were asked
what they thought the situation was about. We compare this perception with
their behavior in the negotiations. The results show that subjects with a prosocial
frame were more likely to distribute the resource equally than those with a
proself frame. Investigating the factors that lead to the adoption of a prosocial
or proself frame, we find that minor situational differences do not influence the
choice of a frame, whereas factors which can be traced back to socialization
exert considerable influence on the selection of a frame.