My experience may be atypical, but most of the <i>serious</i> negotiations I've been involved in have taken place on paper/email and over days/weeks, not a single face-off. Human psychology still factors into it, certainly, but not in the raw way this article describes.<p>It's sort of like the party game Werewolf (a.k.a. Mafia, etc.) - when played in person, it typically revolves around gestures, eye contact, and other physical factors; when played on a forum/over email, it's more about the psychology and strategy of who said what.<p>Or (and this is admittedly an area that I have less first-hand experience in), poker - past a certain point, the really good poker players tend not to give the game away based on physical tells, though the psychology and emotion is still a big contributor to what happens.
Sort of what kgrin said: Poker is an invaluable skill to possess. If you learn to play the PEOPLE instead of the GAME, everything changes.<p>It's sort of like switching the lightbulb on, especially when you're dealing people of low experience levels (in poker or any other game/negotiation).