Objectives Completing this exercise should help you to enhance the following skills:

✱ Reflect on your understanding of, and behaviour towards, other people.

✱ Review your personal experiences of the process of interpersonal perception.

✱ Learn and understand more about your inner self.

Part 1

Look back at the different reactions from five managers to the situation referred to at the start of this chapter. What do you think might be the underlying reasons for the individual responses and how might these responses relate to the perceptual process?

Part 2

Exercise You are required to work in small self-selecting groups with colleagues you trust and feel comfortable with, and with whom confidences are assured.

Relate honestly and fully:

(a) your bias and prejudices about other people; and (b) bias and prejudices you perceive in other people.

2. Examples when you have been guilty of:

(a) making a pre-judgment about an individual without really knowing the true circumstances. To what extent did you then filter stimuli to receive only that which supported your initial reactions? How did you eventually resolve or reconcile this pre-judgment?

(b) Perceptual errors or misjudgements arising from:

✱ Halo and/or rusty halo effect

✱ Projection

✱ Self-fulfilling prophecy What action did you take subsequently and to what extent were the mis judgements or errors resolved?

Discussion

✱ What were your colleagues’ reactions to your revelations? Did anything surprise you? Or them?

✱ To what extent has undertaking this exercise made you more aware of your own perceptions and how you perceive other people?

✱ What have you learnt from undertaking this exercise experiences and how has it helped you to avoid similar situations in the future?