Week 4- Discussion 2 Course- BA62571 G4 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Campbellsville University School of Business and Economics Introduction            The study of negotiation strategy has paramount importance because its quintessential impacts are barely fathomable behind ensuring a favorable situation in the negotiation process. A massive stretch of research by various scholars indicates that negotiation can be considered as both science and an art. As a matter of fact, psychological influences are havoc to make or mar deals for negotiating parties. Therefore these psychological building blocks are formed by emotions that are synthesized to form opinions and perceptions about the opponent negotiating party. Although perceptive acumen helps to build an effective negotiation strategy, distorted perception often creates outcomes contrary to the preconceived expectations. This paper will shed some light on few concepts of perceptual distortions such as i.) Stereotyping, ii.) Halo Effect, iii.) Selective or Partial Perceptions and iv.) Projections. Perceptual Distortions             As explained by Barry, Lewicki, and Saunders (2015), in their book Negotiation, perceptual distortions occur due to cognitive biases. Such an erroneous biases can be traced back to multiple factors that depend on the negotiator’s past experience, past relationship with the other negotiating party, frame of mind at a given point of time, needs and desires, and motivation; if these factor are not in synced then the odds are in favor of perceptual distortions taking place. Research studies show there are broadly two types of perceptual distortions- 1.) Perceptual distortions by generalization which can be further sub-categorized into stereotyping and halo effect, and 2.) Perceptual distortions by anticipation which can be sub-classified into two types- selective perception and projection.             Stereotyping often forms a reason behind perceptual distortion when a negotiator assigns an attribute to its opponent on the basis of his or her background that may include demography, ethnicity, or involvement in a particular class. There may not be any necessary fact that supports the reason behind assigning someone a particular attribute; once someone is stereotyped it is difficult to change that mentality. (Barry, Lewicki, & Saunders, 2015). An example of stereotyping would be to consider a healthcare professional like doctors as non-smokers because they advise their patients to avoid smoking.  There is no necessary evidence to assume the fact that doctors are non-smokers but an attribute is assigned because they belong to a particular professional group. Like stereotyping, halo effects in perception does not involve generalization on the basis of membership to a particular group, instead, it refers to the concept of assuming an array of attributes of a person on the basis of only one information about the person. For example, it can be assumed by obse ...

1. Week 4- Discussion 2
Course- BA62571 G4 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
Campbellsville University
School of Business and Economics
Introduction
The study of negotiation strategy has paramount
importance because its quintessential impacts are barely
fathomable behind ensuring a favorable situation in the
negotiation process. A massive stretch of research by various
scholars indicates that negotiation can be considered as both
science and an art. As a matter of fact, psychological influences
are havoc to make or mar deals for negotiating parties.
Therefore these psychological building blocks are formed by
emotions that are synthesized to form opinions and perceptions
about the opponent negotiating party. Although perceptive
acumen helps to build an effective negotiation strategy,
distorted perception often creates outcomes contrary to the
preconceived expectations. This paper will shed some light on
few concepts of perceptual distortions such as i.) Stereotyping,
ii.) Halo Effect, iii.) Selective or Partial Perceptions and iv.)
Projections.
Perceptual Distortions
As explained by Barry, Lewicki, and Saunders (2015),
in their book
Negotiation,
perceptual distortions occur due to cognitive biases. Such an
erroneous biases can be traced back to multiple factors that
depend on the negotiator’s past experience, past relationship

2. with the other negotiating party, frame of mind at a given point
of time, needs and desires, and motivation; if these factor are
not in synced then the odds are in favor of perceptual
distortions taking place. Research studies show there are
broadly two types of perceptual distortions- 1.) Perceptual
distortions by generalization which can be further sub-
categorized into stereotyping and halo effect, and 2.) Perceptual
distortions by anticipation which can be sub-classified into two
types- selective perception and projection.
Stereotyping often forms a reason behind perceptual
distortion when a negotiator assigns an attribute to its opponent
on the basis of his or her background that may include
demography, ethnicity, or involvement in a particular class.
There may not be any necessary fact that supports the reason
behind assigning someone a particular attribute; once someone
is stereotyped it is difficult to change that mentality. (Barry,
Lewicki, & Saunders, 2015). An example of stereotyping would
be to consider a healthcare professional like doctors as non-
smokers because they advise their patients to avoid smoking.
There is no necessary evidence to assume the fact that doctors
are non-smokers but an attribute is assigned because they
belong to a particular professional group. Like stereotyping,
halo effects in perception does not involve generalization on the
basis of membership to a particular group, instead, it refers to
the concept of assuming an array of attributes of a person on the
basis of only one information about the person. For example, it
can be assumed by observing a jovial man that he is honest,
altruistic, friendly, and harmless. (Barry et al., 2015). Selective
perceptions is a form of error or distortion that occur due to the
fact that partial information is considered to judge a person’s
characteristics or intent whereas filtering out other important
evidence and attributes which might give a different opinion
about the person, or in other words the actor downplays the
subject’s attributes anticipating that whatever information is at
hand perfectly defines the attributes of the subject. The other

3. type of perceptual distortion that is caused due to anticipation is
called projections wherein the actor thinks the opponent
negotiating party possesses his actor’s own characteristics and
will react and feel the same way in a given situation. (Barry et
al., 2015). Projections can create a hazard in negotiation mainly
in cross-cultural parties; Americans are by far competitive in
negotiation than their Malaysians counterpart, whereas the latter
believe in building a relationship. Hence Americans perceive
Malaysians to be competitive as well in negotiation projecting
their own-self which ultimately creates conflicts of interests.
(Ready & Tessema, 2009).
Conclusion
While perceptual distortions serve no productive
purpose in negotiations but it does not evidently question the
fundamentals of perceptions as a whole. Perceptions if
accurately done can favorably put the negotiator in a winning
position from the initial process of the negotiation deal.
Therefore the principle of perception of fairness should be
implemented every time in a negotiation. In other words, the
fairness of outcomes should be considered as a consequence of
perceptions. As relevant to the situation there can be Perception
of distributive fairness and procedural fairness. (Welsh, 2004).
Reference
Barry, B., Lewicki, R.J., & Saunders, D.M. (2015). Negotiation.
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Welsh, N.A. (2004). Perceptions Of Fairness In Negotiations.
Marquette Law Review, Vol: 87, p753.
Ready, K.J & Tessema, M.T. (2009). Perceptions and Strategies
in the Negotiation Process: A Cross-Cultural Examination of
U.S. and Malaysia. International Negotiation 14 (2009) 493–

4. 517.
Instructions:
The above discussion was posted by my classmate & need to
post my view with a response.
need to be done within 15hrs from posted time.
Please note for all discussion questions you must read the
corresponding textbook chapter/s to correctly respond to the
question. You must include references from academically
reviewed articles found in the CU library. All assignments are
Turnitin enabled and the acceptable range for Turnitin is 0-15%.
High Turnitin scores will adversely affect your grade therefore
you must include in-text citations, paraphrasing and quotations
to have a score that is within the acceptable range.
A simple format for responding to discussion questions is as
follows:-
1. Introduction 12-15 lines this paragraph introduces the topic
of the discussion
2. Body of the response (2-3 paragraphs) of 12-15 lines each
which answers the question fully
3. Summary/conclusion 12-15 lines this paragraph summarizes
the main points of the discussion.
4. Reference list in full APA format