Reading about negotiation strategies in work/business, and think this summary adequately highlights the dynamics of frame, shit-tests and abundance mentality.

It's a negotiation truism that the person with the most negotiating power is the individual who appears to have the ability to walk away. When you know your plan and your ability to stick to it, angry threats and denunciations can't hurt you. In fact, they look silly, out of control, and invariably hurt the other guy's negotiation posture.

All of these tactics (and self-talk) simply serve to increase your negotiation confidence. And when everyone, and I mean everyone, is afraid that the bargaining session will go off the rails, to the calm and confident will go the spoils of war.

...everyone feels they're negotiating from a position of weakness. This is not surprising given the fact that we know our bargaining weaknesses better than anyone and fear that everyone else knows them too.

Remember, you are the one most acutely aware of your own negotiating/power weaknesses in the relationship. We all know how much easier it is for girls to simply pick up a new member of the opposite sex on dropping a relationship, but so long as you can:
1. give the appearance that you have other options (high SMV, positive interactions with other girls)
2. know what you want, know what you will tolerate and accept, and stick to it (hold frame)
3. demonstrate that you are prepared to walk away
you can maintain a strong negotiating position in your relationships and avoid cowtowing to shit tests.