1. Leadership & Management
Reading for Lesson 12:
The Power of Perception

2. Lesson 12 Reading Objectives
1. The student will comprehend the effect of the following on leadership situations:
  a.  Perception
b. Perceptual biases
c. Errors

3. Lesson 12 Reading Objectives
2. The student will comprehend and apply the following concepts:
  a.  Attributions
b.  Fundamental attribution error
c.  Perceptual set
d.  Self-serving bias
e.  Actor/observer difference
f.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

4. Lesson 12 Discussion Objectives
1. The student will comprehend the effect of the following on leadership situations:
  a.  Perception
b. Perceptual biases
c. Errors

5. Lesson 12 Discussion Objectives
2. The student will comprehend and apply the following concepts:
  a.  Attributions
b.  Fundamental attribution error
c.  Perceptual set
d.  Self-serving bias
e.  Actor/observer difference
f.  Self-fulfilling prophecy.

6. 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

7. Perceptual Biases
Perceptions are based on limited observation and incomplete information
Individuals do not see and hear everything that happens in a particular leadership situation
They are selective in what they attend to and what they, in turn, perceive
This selectivity leads to the tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another

8. Errors
Errors in perceptual judgment arise from inaccuracies in any part of the perception process

9. Perception and Leadership
The effect of perception, perceptual biases and errors on leadership situations:
We tend to see our own success due to intelligence, personality or physical abilities, while we view others’ success as more attributable to situational factors or luck

10. Aspects of Perception Attributions: Fundamental Attribution Error:
Explanations we develop in our own minds for the behaviors or actions we attend to
Fundamental Attribution Error:
Tendency to overestimate the dispositional causes of behavior and underestimate the environmental causes

11. Aspects of Perception Perceptual Set: Self-Serving Bias
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

12. Aspects of Perception Actor/Observer Difference:
People who are observing an action are much more likely than the actor to make the fundamental attribution error
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy:
Occurs when expectations or predictions play a causal role in bringing about the events we predict