Prof. Dr. Roman Trötschel

Roman Trötschel is Professor of Social and Political Psychology at the Faculty of Sustainability at Leuphana University Lüneburg. He leads the Negotiation Research Group (NRG), which studies decisions, strategies, mindsets, and group dynamics in societal, political, and economic negotiations. The group’s research is funded by national and international institutions such as the German Research Foundation (DFG), the European Union (ERDF), the Volkswagen Foundation, the Kellogg School of Management, and the Hans Böckler Foundation. Findings are published in leading international journals in psychology, sustainability science, and economics.

Psychological Perspectives on Negotiations

Psychological negotiation research empirically examines the “human factor” in bargaining—how negotiators’ mental processes, emotions, and behaviors shape the negotiation process and its outcomes. It explores when psychological processes facilitate the exploration of mutual acceptable and beneficial agreements and when they become obstacles. Roman Trötschel’s work focuses on mechanisms such as cognitive heuristics (e.g., anchoring, framing, mental accounting), motivational processes (e.g., self-regulation, goal setting), mindsets (e.g., perspective-taking, integrative mindsets), group dynamics (e.g., social identity, group processes), and psychological conflicts in scarce resource negotiations (e.g., public goods negotiations, commons negotiations).

The Negotiation Research Group (NRG) investigates psychological mechanisms in negotiations that drive economic, ecological, and societal transformation. Transformation negotiations aim to initiate, shape, and manage fundamental change in economic, environmental, societal, or cultural domains. Their goal is to promote sustainable development by:

1. a) addressing multiple dimensions of outcomes (economic, ecological, and social),
2. b) integrating diverse and multilateral interests of stakeholders both at and beyond the negotiation table, and
3. c) balancing immediate, short-term, and long-term interests of stakeholders in the present and the future.

In essence, transformation negotiations seek sustainable agreements to intergroup ans well as intergenerational conflicts of interests arising in times of transition.

Psychological Perspectives on Transformation Negotiations

From a psychological perspective, negotiating transformation poses extraordinary challenges because it heightens cognitive demands and triggers conflicts at multiple levels—within individuals, between individuals, within groups, and between groups and different generations. Negotiators must balance benefits and burdens across different outcome dimensions, account for the interests of parties at the table as well as those absent from it, and reconcile immediate with future consequences. Only by considering these multidimensional negotiation outcomes—conflicts between present and future generations, across different groups at different locations, or across different types of outcomes such as economic, social, or ecological benefits and burdens —can genuinely sustainable agreements be achieved.

Adding to this complexity, transformation negotiations are typically marked by high levels of uncertainty and unpredictability. This given complexity makes it particularly difficult to reach long lasting conflict resolutions, as negotiators must design agreements for futures that remain uncertain and, at times, unknowable.

Current Research Projects
As transformation negotiations are affected by the complex interplay of various psychological factors that have not yet been systematically addressed in empirical negotiation research, different psychological mechanisms are investigated in separate research projects of the NRG. The following list of research fundings, Ph.D.- and habilitation projects (i.e., postdoctoral research projects) provides a brief overview of the ongoing research on transformation negotiations at the NRG.

• Mental accounting in negotiations with multiple-dimensional outcomes: Balancing benefits and burdens across different utility dimensions (PI: Roman Trötschel; Co-PIs: Marco Schauer, Kai Zhang); Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Conflicts as a Barrier towards Sustainable Agreements (PI: Johann Majer, Co-PI: Roman Trötschel); Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
• Resource-allocations in distribution vs contribution negotiations: Bargaining the collectivization and privatization of benefits and burdens (PIs: Roman Trötschel, Hong Zhang, Simon Moran, Ilana Ritov; Co-PIs: Marie van Treek, Johann Majer, Kai Zhang); Funded by the Volkswagen-Foundation (VW-Stiftung)
• Achieving Sustainable Agreements in Labor Negotiations: Evaluating a Mindset-Based Negotiation Training (PI: Roman Trötschel; Co-PI: Marco Warsitzka, Michel Mann, Joachim Hüffmeier); Funded by the Hans-Böckler-Foundation
• Sustainable solutions in intra- and intergenerational conflicts (PI: Johann Majer, Marie van Treek; Co-PI: Roman Trötschel, Hong Zhang); Funded by the Leuphana-Research-Fund
• Strategic agenda setting in integrative negotiations under time constraints (PI: Hong Zhang; Co-PI: Roman Trötschel) Funded by the Leuphana-Research-Fund
• Dealing with Deals implying a Great Deal of Uncertainty, Incalculability, and Unpredictability in Negotiations (PI: Marco Schauer; Co-PI; Roman Trötschel, Johann Majer)
• Negotiating Right of Ownership vs. Right of Use: Achieving Sustainable Negotiation Agreements through the Principles of Commoning (PI: Roman Trötschel; Co-PI: Caroline Heydenbluth, Hong Zhang, Hillie Aalderling)
• Integrative Mindsets and the Solution of Value Conflicts (PI: Carolin Schuster, Co-PI: Roman Trötschel, Fieke Harrinck)