Why an audience hardens a position

Two negotiators reach a deal in a private meeting. The same negotiators, with the same positions, fail to agree when their teams are in the room. Nothing about the terms changed; the number of people watching did.

What everyone sees

The audience is assumed to provide accountability — a check on hasty concessions, which should improve the outcome. The possibility that the audience provides rigidity instead, by adding a reputation cost to every concession, is the less discussed effect.

What is actually happening

Pruitt and colleagues showed that negotiators with audiences or constituents made fewer concessions and reached fewer agreements. Schlenker described impression management: people manage their public image, and a concession in front of colleagues risks appearing weak. Deutsch and Krauss showed that threats and audience effects hardened positions by raising the cost of backing down. The audience does not change the terms; it changes the cost of movement, and higher movement costs produce worse deals or no deal at all.

Why it stays hidden

The rigidity hides because the audience believes it is helping. Each team member present thinks they are providing support, expertise or moral backing. They are also providing witnesses, and the negotiator’s awareness of witnesses transforms each concession from a strategic move into a public retreat. The cost of the retreat is paid in reputation, and reputation costs are not on the term sheet.