We studied the relation between power and deception in an
ultimatum bargaining setting. During bargaining, parties typically
exchange offers until one party sets a final offer which the other
party can only accept or reject. Ultimatums thus are an essential
part of bargaining (e.g. Handgraaf, Van Dijk, & De Cremer, 2003;
Thaler, 1992). The ultimatum bargaining game captures this process
in a very simple and elegant way (see also Güth, Schmittberger,
& Schwarze, 1982). In an ultimatum bargaining game, one
party (the allocator) proposes a division for a certain resource.
The other party (the recipient) can either accept or reject the proposed
division. If the recipient accepts, the resource is divided
according to the proposal. If the recipient rejects, both parties receive
nothing. Both players thus are interdependent and yet have
different strategic means; the allocator has control over the offer
while the recipient has the ability to accept or reject the offer.
The differences between both roles allowed us to study how different types of means influence the use of deception and to test our
instrumental approach to deception. Moreover, the simple structure
of the ultimatum bargaining game offers excellent possibilities
to manipulate the levels of power and information of both
bargaining parties.