Two people want different things. They sit down to talk. That talk is a negotiation. It is how they find a deal.
negotiation
Two or more people talking to reach a deal. They all have to agree to it.
Many people think it means winning. They picture a fight over one number. But a good deal is one both sides can accept.
Your guess
Two kids want the same orange. There is only one. How can they share it best?
Sources
Fisher & Ury, Getting to Yes (1981)
Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School
Harvard Business School Online
Adam Galinsky, Columbia University
Malhotra & Bazerman, Negotiation Genius
Roger Fisher & William Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, 1981 — excerpt text: https://www.uwo.ca/sci/correct/csi_cat/2023resources/getting-to-yes-excerpts-6-12-23-25.pdf
Jared R. Curhan, Jennifer R. Overbeck, Yeri Cho, Teng Zhang & Yu Yang, "Silence is golden: Extended silence, deliberative mindset, and value creation in negotiation," Journal of Applied Psychology 107(1):78–94, 2022 — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33764081/
MIT Sloan School of Management press release on the Curhan silence studies (Study 1 = laboratory candidate/recruiter negotiation simulation), 2021 — https://mitsloan.mit.edu/press/silence-golden-new-research-out-mits-sloan-school-management-suggests-extended-silence-during-negotiations-leads-to-better-results-both-parties
Yossi Maaravi & Ben Heller, "Buyers, Maybe Moving Second Is Not That Bad After All: Low-Power, Anxiety, and Making Inferior First Offers," Frontiers in Psychology 12, 2021 — https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.677653/full
Correction to Maaravi & Heller (2021), Frontiers in Psychology, 2025 — Study 1 interaction restated as p = 0.055, not significant: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1652330/full
Robert B. Cialdini, Joyce E. Vincent, Stephen K. Lewis, José Catalan, Diane Wheeler & Betty Lee Darby, "Reciprocal concessions procedure for inducing compliance: The door-in-the-face technique," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 31(2):206–215, 1975
Adam D. Galinsky & Thomas Mussweiler, "First offers as anchors: The role of perspective-taking and negotiator focus," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 81(4):657–669, 2001
Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, "In BATNA Analysis, Knowledge Is Power" — https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/batna/in-batna-analysis-knowledge-is-power/
Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, "Dear Negotiation Coach: When Silence Is Golden" — https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/dear-negotiation-coach-when-silence-is-golden-nb/
Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, "When to Make the First Offer in Negotiations" — https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/negotiation-skills-daily/when-to-make-the-first-offer-in-negotiations/
Program on Negotiation, Harvard Law School, "Dealmaking: Grappling with Anchors in Negotiation" — https://www.pon.harvard.edu/daily/dealmaking-daily/dealmaking-grappling-with-anchors-in-negotiation/
Harvard Business School Online, "Understanding the Zone of Possible Agreement" — https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/understanding-zopa
Chris Voss with Tahl Raz, Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It, 2016 — the source for tactical empathy, labeling, mirroring and calibrated questions (index 27–28), currently uncited
Read end to end and corrected: August 10, 2026. Numbers checked: August 10, 2026.