Negotiator affect: the state of the art (and the science)

Negotiation, once regarded by researchers as essentially a cognitive process through which parties with non-identical preferences allocate resources through joint decision making, is now understood to have a significant affective component. I discuss in this essay the evolution of research exploring the role of affect in negotiation, consider the interplay of affect and cognition that underlies the papers in this issue, and comment on methodological developments and challenges in the study of negotiator affect. Attention to the role of affect is no longer a peripheral pursuit in negotiation research, but it does remain an elusive one.