UC Berkeley

We examined whether gender differences in the perceived ease of being misled predict the likelihood of being deceived in distributive negotiations Study 1 ( N= 131) confirmed that female negotiators are perceived as more easily misled than male negotiators This perception corresponded with perceptions of women's relatively low competence Study 2 ( N= 328) manipulated negotiator gender, competence and warmth and found that being perceived as easily misled via low competence affected expectations about the negotiating process, including less deception scrutiny among easily misled negotiators and lower ethical standards among their negotiating counterparts This pattern held true regardless of buyer and seller gender Study 3 ( N= 298) examined whether patterns of deception in face-to-face negotiations were consistent with this gender stereotype As expected, negotiators deceived women more so than men, thus leading women into more deals under false pretenses than men