Sara, a top-level manager, is usually preoccupied with immediate tasks and seldom has the time to give attention to individual employee concerns. Eric, her employee, is accustomed to this attitude of Sara. He does not bother to inform her about the difficulties he is facing in dealing with a new process. As a result, his productivity suffers. Eric behaves the way he does because he is convinced that even if he goes to Sara, his needs will be ignored. Sara's behavior best exemplifies:

The following is missing for the question to be complete:

Rehearsing

Selective expectation

Selective memory

Active listening

Answer: Selective expectation

Explanation: Selective expectation refers to the psychological cognitive bias that makes one perceive what they want or think they need to perceive. In other words, what someone expects to be the outcome of his action, such as Eric, affects his perception of Sara. This means that what Eric biases to happen if he wants to talk to Sara about his problems and difficulties in the workplace, determines his perception of Sara, meaning in Eric's opinion that Sara won't want or have the time to listen to him. However, apart from the biased expectation of determining someone's, say Eric's, observations, they are influenced by the degree to which something stands out. If Sara is often unable to deal with employees' problems because of a job that works, then it is visible and highlighted as something that will determine one's, Eric's, perception of her more often as a manager who is uninterested in employee problems, than a manager is stuck business.

Perhaps, if Eric would approach his problems decisively and eloquently, and without any expectation in advance, but only with a determined attitude to present his problems, Sara as a top manager would probably listen to him.