Leaders shape our perceptions

by Alain Diza

Published on this site: July 1st, 2005 - See more articles from this month...

A leader's independent judgment shows up as activity in his or her brain areas involved in emotion which is the cost for going against the status quo of the group. However, most people wish to socially conform to what others in the group think and feel.

Have you ever stood in a group of people on the sidewalk of a busy city corner waiting for the light to change so you could cross the street? If so, have you noticed what happens when one person, a leader, decides to cross the street against the light (when there is little vehicular traffic approaching)? Once the leader begins to go across the street against the light, most of the people observing the leader perceive it is acceptable for them to cross, too.

Using functional MRI scanners that can peer into the working brain, a new study shows that "seeing is believing" ...and...your perceptions are deeply colored by the information you receive from others, usually leaders or followers of leaders. The brain scanner captured a picture of the judgment process proving that social conformity stems from changes in perception that are not conscious decisions. But leaders who make independent judgments, that went against the group, showed activity in regions of the brain associated with emotional salience. It is important to understand that our individual assumptions/ beliefs, values and guiding principles, which make up how we see the world, are formed by the filters of our perception. And our perceived truth is unconsciously conditioned by those we associate with or observe unless we have developed the ability to question conventional wisdom. Source: The online edition of Biological Psychiatry, June 22, 2005

John G. Agno, certified executive & business coach Signature, Inc., PO Box 2086, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Telephone: 734.426.2000 (US Eastern Time Zone) Email: mailto:[email protected] The most critical knowledge is self-knowledge. http://www.MentoringandCoaching.com