Biases & thinking (Week 3)

Question 1

What are the types of confirmation bias?

Answer 1

1. Confirmation bias
2. Biased assimilation
3. Illusory correlation
4. Self-fulfilling prophecies

Question 2

What are the typology of preference during interpersonal dynamics?

Answer 2

1. Taker - Believe world is competitive place, ppl need to be better than others to succeed
2. Giver - Prefer giving than taking, giving attention to other ppl’s needs
3. Matcher - Prefer to preserve an equal balance of giving and taking

Question 3

What is the relationship between givers and their performance?

Answer 3

1. Givers are highest and lowest performers in orgs

2. A higher no. of givers is +vely associated w org performance

Question 4

What can we do to help givers succeed in organisations?

Answer 4

1. Protect givers from burnout
2. Encourage help-seeking
3. Remove takers from orgs

Question 5

How is typology of preference and self-fulfilling prophecies related?

Answer 5

Taker: Minimal level of Self-fulfilling prophecies
Matcher: Moderate level
Giver: High level

Question 6

What are the reasons for confusing correlation and causation?

Answer 6

1. We treat diagnostic relationship as causal
2. We fail to consider third variables
3. We forget that causation sometimes runs in both directions

Question 7

What is counterfactual thinking? What are the types of counterfactual thinking?

Answer 7

Imagining how things might have happened differently

Involves: a) representing normality, b) mutating the exceptional event in order to reconstruct normality

Types: Upward (imagine better outcome), downward (imagine worse outcome)

Question 8

What are the two main functions of counterfactual thinking?

Answer 8

1. Preparative function
   - Helps us to avoid recurrence of - ve outcomes
2. Affective function
   - Makes us feel better (downward cft)

Question 9

What are some other functions of counterfactual thinking?

Answer 9

CFT can:

• Cause REGRET over missed opportunities
• Increase our UNDERSTANDING of WHY an event happened
• Affect our current MOODS (Upward =envy, downward = satisfaction)

Question 10

What is confirmation bias?

Answer 10

Confirmation bias: We SEEK INFO that confirms rather than disconfirms our prior beliefs (i.e. consistent with our existing beliefs)

Question 11

What is biased assimilation?

Answer 11

Biased assimilation: We tend to be more confident in our prior beliefs after being exposed to mixed evidence

Question 12

What is illusory correlation?

Answer 12

Illusory correlation: We tend to see correlations that we are looking for, even when none exists

Question 13

What are self-fulfilling prophecies?

Answer 13

Self-fulfilling prophecies: We tend to bring our expected behaviour in others