EXAGGERATION OF CONFLICT BIAS this bias occurs when parties exaggerate differences between themselves and the opposing party (in negotiation) and even in third parties (in media- tion). For example when students from rival universities watch the same videotape of a football game, they perceive their own team as committing fewer infractions than those attributed to their team by the opposing side. When recipients view a proposer's behavior to be "negative," they regard the proposer to have more negative intentions than an observer watching the same proposer Examination of partisans of both sides of contemporary social conflict (e.g., liberal versus conservative groups, pro-life versus pro-choice groups) reveals that partisans overestimate the extremity and consistency of the view of the other side. Consider a deep-rooted conflict between the Nez Perce Tribe and local nontribal governments that operate within the boundar ies of the Nez Perce Reservation. Overall, disputants in the conflict were more defensive than offensive. Offensive behavior is any attempted actions that benefit one's own side relative to the other side, and defensive behavior is antipathy toward actions that harm one's own to the other side's benefit." Disputants consistently exaggerated the offensiveness of the other side and underestimated the defensiveness of the other side.