Instrumental demand in this incident entails his declaration that he does not want to do a jail term (Eilers, 2017). This is demonstrated by his decision to calm down and make it known that he has no intention to harm anyone. It is, therefore, clear that the main reason he is not ready to let anyone go is in order to have an assurance of his safety and freedom. Asking for food and a bottle of whiskey is also instrumental since it is meant to help him satisfy his hunger for food and thirst for a drink (Eilers, 2017). On the other hand, expressive demands in this incident are basically brought out through his frustrations following his suffering while fighting in Iraq combined with his wife cheating on him. He wants his wife to stop cheating on him and at least show appreciation for his struggles for the family.
In my opinion, the expressive demand is more important to Bradley than the instrumental one. This is because it is the main reason he takes the eleven people hostage. He believes that taking the hostages will help him regain his wife’s loyalty.
I would handle this demand by asking him to give the phone to Susan. I would then convince her to agree to his demands-promise to be trustworthy and stop cheating on him or explain to him in clear terms what exactly was happening between her and her professor.
Yes, I would provide Bradley with the alcohol in order to have the five hostages released. Bradley is frustrated, and what he might do with the hostages may not be predictable considering that he could change his mind and even harm them. Therefore, having him release five of the hostages is good progress. Besides this, giving him the drink will make him trust me more than before, making it easier to further convince him to release the rest of the hostages (Grabianowski, 2017). It will also make it easier to convince him that he will not serve any jail term.
The demand for alcohol is an instrumental demand. It is meant to help Bradley quench his thirst for a drink, and, therefore, I will promptly cooperate with him in order to help him and also win his trust.
- Eilers, E. (2017). CPI’s crisis development model puts crisis in perspective.
- Grabianowski, E. (2017). How hostage negotiation works.