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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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The Human Zoo

Factual: Science & Nature

Series 4

Exploring the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

The Human Zoo explores the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

The Human Zoo: Series 3

The Human Zoo: Series 3: Episode 4: The psychology of negotiation

Episode 4

Episode 4: The psychology of negotiation

Series 3

The psychology of negotiation

BBC Radio 4 - The Human Zoo, Series 3, The psychology of negotiation

Every day we complete a myriad of tiny negotiations, only noticing when they go wrong.

Every day we successfully complete a myriad of tiny yet crucial negotiations, only noticing when they go wrong. As Michael Blastland discovers, we are natural negotiators.

Our lives are full of tiny yet crucial negotiations. Do you let the other car pull out first from the junction? Who steps through the doorway first? Who takes the last biscuit?.

Passing almost unnoticed, they are an essential social lubricant and are based on an unspoken, common understanding. It's when there are no shared expectations, or where there's a direct conflict, that negotiations take on a very different character. If it's personal, it's a relationship-threatening row. If it's political, then the result can be war.

In this week's Human Zoo, Michael Blastland explores the psychology of negotiation - from how to ask for a pay rise to the story of the Polish psychologists who helped engineer one of the most successful political handovers in modern history.

Producer: Toby Murcott
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Michael Blastland presents the series that explores the foibles, quirks and behaviour of that most fascinating of species - us

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The Human Zoo

Series 3

Episode 4: The psychology of negotiation

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