Abstract

Social psychology was a relative latecomer to the study of conflict and negotiation, with its first publication in 1953. Scholars in several other fields preceded our efforts, including economists (e.g., Edgeworth, 1881), sociologists (e.g., Simmel, 1922/1955), international relations theorists (e.g., Wright, 1942), and mathematicians (e.g. Von Neumann & Morgenstern, 1944). The earliest social psychologists who studied these topics relied heavily on scholars from these other fields for variables, hypotheses, and paradigms that could be translated into research methods. Psychological theory was a lesser source of ideas at first, but it has become increasingly important over the years.