Research Design Connection: Dining Options – Consequences

by Sally Augustin, Ph.D. | March 25th, 2019

Designers negotiating with clients or developing at-client dining experiences can apply recent research related to sharing meals. Fishbach and Woolley report that, “When people in a business negotiation share not just a meal but a plate, they collaborate better and reach deals faster…Sharing plates is customary in Chinese and Indian cultures, among others. Because the custom requires people to coordinate their physical actions, it might in turn prompt them to coordinate their negotiations.” Fishbach and Woolley found that outcomes were the same when diners were friends and when they were strangers. This study will be published in Psychological Science. “Trying to Get People to Agree? Skip the French Restaurant and Go Out for Chinese Food.” 2018. Press release, University of Chicago, https://newschicagobooth.uchicago.edu/newsroom/trying-get-people-agree-skip-french-restaurant-and-go-out-chinese-food Sally Augustin, PhD,a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the …