Improvisation Exercises Increase Negotiators' Divergent Thinking, and Sometimes their Negotiation Outcomes

Abstract

Two studies investigated the effect of a short improvisation intervention (theatrical improvisation in Study 1, musical improvisation in Study 2) on negotiation processes and outcomes. The expectation was that an improvisation exercise, compared to a control condition in which participants engaged in jigsaw puzzling, would result in better negotiation agreements via higher levels of divergent thinking. Results showed that improvisation exercise increased participants' divergent thinking, compared to the control condition. The effects on negotiation processes and outcomes, however, only partly supported the predictions. In Study 2, improvisation exercise had an indirect influence on negotiation outcomes via divergent thinking, and in Study 1 improvisation exercise did influence divergent thinking but did not influence negotiation outcomes. So improvisation exercise increases divergent thinking, and sometimes this heightened divergent thinking results in higher negotiation outcomes.