Who Negotiates? The Political Psychology of Price Negotiations

Price negotiation is often a zero-sum interaction where one party's gain is another's loss. In such contexts, a buyer's willingness to negotiate can depend on the perceived justifiability of negotiation. This research examines how political ideology shapes these perceptions. Two archival studies (<i>N</i> = 56,615) and four preregistered studies (<i>N</i> = 3,157) show that conservative buyers are more likely to negotiate prices for houses and used cars. Conservatives also hold stronger beliefs that buyers should negotiate prices regardless of the seller's identity-be it a professional dealer, an ordinary seller, a stranger, or a friend. This heightened propensity to justify price negotiation is rooted in conservatives' endorsement of free-market ideology, which motivates and even moralizes the pursuit of economic self-interest in marketplace interactions. These findings offer a nuanced account of interactions in the marketplace, demonstrating that marketplace behaviors are influenced not only by economic considerations but also by ideological beliefs.