Leadership & Management
Reading for Lesson 12:
The Power of Perception
Lesson 12
Reading Objectives
1. The student will comprehend the effect of the
following on leadership situations:
a. Perception
b. Perceptual biases
c. Errors
Lesson 12
Reading Objectives
2. The student will comprehend and apply the
following concepts:
a. Attribution
b. Fundamental Attribution Error
c. Perceptual Set
d. Self-Serving Bias
e. Actor/Observer Difference
f. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Lesson 12
Discussion Objectives
1. The student will comprehend the effect of the
following on leadership situations:
a. Perception
b. Perceptual Biases
c. Errors
Lesson 12
Discussion Objectives
2. The student will comprehend and apply the
following concepts:
a. Attribution
b. Fundamental Attribution Error
c. Perceptual Set
d. Self-Serving Bias
e. Actor/Observer Difference
f. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Perception & Observation
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT
OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.
Perception & Observation (Cont.)
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT
OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY
COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.
Stroop Test
 Demonstrates
brain’s emphasis toward
pre-conceived ideas versus true
observation.
 Demonstrates
“conditioned” response and
association.
 Read
the following words as quickly as
possible…then the following slide.
Stroop Test (Cont.)
Green Red Blue
Yellow Blue Yellow
Stroop Test (Cont.)
Green Red Blue
Yellow Blue Yellow
Stroop Test (Cont.)
Blue Yellow Red
Green Yellow Green
Perception

The process individuals use to make sense out
of the environment by selecting, organizing and
interpreting information from the environment:


Perceptions vary because individuals differ in what
they perceive and how they organize and interpret it
Superiors, peers and subordinates judge a leader’s
performance primarily by perceptions of intentions
and effectiveness
Perceptual Biases
 Perceptions
are based on limited
observation and incomplete information.
 Subordinates do not see & hear everything
that occurs in a particular leadership
situation:
• They are selective in what they perceive
• This selectivity leads to the tendency or bias to
perceive one thing and not another
Errors

Errors in perceptual judgment arise from
inaccuracies in any part of the perception
process
 Errors may be due to subordinate experience
 Leader’s actions may cause misperceptions
Perception and Leadership
 The
effect of perception, perceptual biases
and errors on leadership situations:


We tend to see our own success due to
diligence, personality or physical abilities
We tend to perceive others’ success as more
attributable to situational factors or luck
Aspects of Perception
 Attribution:

Explanation we develop in our own mind for
the behaviors or actions we attend to
 Fundamental Attribution

Error:
Tendency to overestimate the dispositional
causes of behavior and underestimate the
environmental causes
Aspects of Perception (Cont.)
 Perceptual

Set:
Tendency or bias to perceive one thing and
not another
 Self-Serving

Bias
Tendency to make external attributions (i.e.,
blame the situation) for one’s own failures, yet
make internal attributions (i.e., take credit) for
one’s successes
Aspects of Perception (Cont.)
 Actor/Observer

People who are observing an action are much
more likely than the actor to make the
fundamental attribution error
 Self-Fulfilling

Difference:
Prophecy:
Occurs when expectations or predictions play
a causal role in bringing about the events we
predict
Questions?
???