Hostage (crisis) negotiation: the potential role of negotiator personality, decision-making style, coping style and emotional intelligence on negotiator success.

Abstract

This article explores the potential role of hostage negotiator characteristics and the impact of psychological constructs on negotiator success. It explores the role of Personality, Decision-Making Style, Coping Style, Cognitive Coping Style and Emotion Regulation and Emotional Intelligence within high stress environments and occupations. The findings suggest that certain individual traits and characteristics may play a role in negotiator success, via the mediation of specific styles, which are conducive to effective crisis negotiation skills. It is proposed that these findings have application within the field of hostage/crisis negotiation in the format of guidance regarding the recruitment and selection of hostage negotiators and the identification of potential training needs within individual negotiators in order to maximize their efficacy within the field. In line with this, it is argued that a psychometric tool that assesses these constructs is developed in order to aid the process of hostage negotiation selection.