STEREOTYPING This perceptual distortion is one that is commonly found. An individual is judged on the aspect of his demographic or social classification which he belongs to. The particular indivi

STEREOTYPING

This perceptual distortion is one that is commonly found. An individual is judged on the aspect of his demographic or social classification which he belongs to. The particular individual might be or might not have the same characteristics of the other people in his category (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2015). For example, men are considered to be strong and bold while females are stereotyped to be the weaker sex. In reality, not all men are strong and all women are weak. Such stereotypes can affect the negotiation process in an adverse way as this creates a prejudice against the other party. Even the valid points of the other person can not seem significant due to the stereotyped judgements. The negotiation outcomes could not be favourable as a result.

HALO EFFECTS

In this distortion, the individuals perceive others and create an image by focussing on one particular attribute without considering their other dimensions. If the particular person is found correlated with a positive attribute then there might be positive effects. The person can have a negative image if he/she is being correlated with a negative attribute (Elnaga, 2012). If a person appears to be smiling, he is thought as an honest person. However, these attributes do not have any relationship with each other. These effects can influence the decision making in the negotiation process to be erroneous as the other attributes might also have their own impacts.

SELECTIVE PERCEPTION

This type of perception is a distortion that exists when the judgement is made by taking only the information that is required by the individual. The information that is contrasting with the feelings and beliefs of the individuals are not taken into account for making a judgement (Janiszewski, Kuo & Tavassoli, 2013). If a senior manager wants to implement a policy in the organisation, then he might consult other managers to gain their opinions. However, he considers the opinion of particular managers who have stood in favour of the policy. The opinions of others are not considered even if their points are valid. This distortion can create dissatisfaction with the other managers and the outcomes might get delayed due to the opposition.

PROJECTION

As the name says, this type of perceptual distortion is the projection of one's own self on the others. Their feelings, beliefs and way of actions that will be revealed if in such circumstances are assigned to the opposite person (Lewicki, Saunders & Barry, 2015). If a manager comes to office on weekends or works for long hours during tight deadlines, he might want others to comply with him. This might not be the case for others as they might have other commitments and might feel frustrated. In this case, there might be oppositions and arguments. This projection impacts the judgements and decisions of the negotiator where it can also result in miscalculations. Due to the projection distortion, the negotiation might not proceed in the way as expected by the negotiator since everyone might not have the same feelings for a particular situation.

Stereotyping: to make judgement about a person or a group. When someone assumes that he, she or a group have the same characteristics as the other people of the same group. Although, sometimes, people try to be stereotypical for fun. Its not always based on the bias. But, when you read or happen to observer stereotype cases, they mostly based out of prejudice “stereotypes have been unjustifiably associated with prejudice” (Dixon, 2017). Often, stereotyping is based on looks and gender.

For example, one day, I boarded a train on my way to work. I saw a bunch of folks, clapping and singing. At first, I thought they were singers or students of a Music class. I think the perception about those folks was clear to everyone as singers. After few stops, I happened to talk to one of those guys, he told me that they were just singing for fun. Neither they were from any performing group, nor Music class students.

Halo effects: it is category in which people observe humans, places or things, based on the ‘outer appearance’. They land on their conclusions without knowing the facts or using less known facts.

For example, in social gatherings, people often form their opinion about other persons by looking at their attire or sense of dressing “When people first meet each other, they engage in an active examination of the person and the context to build an initial impression” (Gibson & Gore, 2016).

Selective perception: it is a situation when a person wants to believe or tries to say he or she is correct, irrespective of what others have to say about it.

For example, at work places, most of the times we get managers who act as if they are always correct. If there is a situation where they could be proven wrong, they try to cover themselves and blames the subordinates “Managers are broader perceivers when they are encouraged to identify more problems” (Beyer, Chattopadhyay, George, Glick, Ogilvie & Pugliese, 1997).

Projection: some people develop a cognitive ability to defend untoward feelings. This defense mechanism helps an individual to overcome any emotional effect causing by unwanted situation.

For example, shift the blame is a common practice you find in some people. When you try to confront them to what he or she did, they overturn the blame at you and makes it look like, as if you did it.