Here’s the situation… Let’s say you hear one fellow worker call your manager a lazy lout ... almost daily .. for two weeks. Surprisingly, this person’s words likely drops the popularity of your manager in your eyes – as much as if the whole department made the same accusation.
Now let’s assume that a dozen other people … in fact the whole department … respects the manager’s work ethic and most are impressed with daily results to prove it. Yet peers let the one person vent daily – rather than create conflict by countering his accusations. Research finds this problem to be far more concerning than most realize. How so?
Unbelievable as it might appear … Kimberlee Weaver, psychologist at Virginia Polytechnic University found that people brain’s calculated opinions as popular depending on how many times they heard the same thing – not how many people said it. Why is this significant?
In other words - a single opinion spouted again and again has almost as much impact on the human brain - as if that opinion came from several people’s perspective.
Can you see the implications in your workplace? According to Weaver’s discovery – this misperception can wrongly sway a person’s view of reality. In this case it could lead you to make a wrong decision – influenced by one person’s biased complaints.
Have you seen such brain illusions happen – where one person’s repeated opinions, makes it appear that everybody agrees?
My sense is that this really works in politics, Ellen. And the folks with the most money are obviously heard most as well!
Posted by: Robyn | August 21, 2007 8:38 AM | Permalink to Comment