ch 6 Perception and Individual Decision Making Flashcards
Perception
perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment
situational factors influencing perception
time
work setting
social setting
factors of perceiver that influence perception
attitudes motives interests experiences expectations
influential factors in the perception target (object of perception)
novelty motion sounds size background proximity similarity
peoples behaviors are based on…
their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself
Attribution Theory
we judge others differently depending on the meaning we attribute to their behaviors
-attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individuals behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused
explain the 3 determination factors used in attribution theory
- distinctiveness is whether an individual displays different behaviors in different situations
- consensus. a behavior shows consensus if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way
- consistency is whether a person responds the same way over time
fundamental attribution error
our tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgements about the behavior of others
Self-Serving Bias
the tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors
selective perception
the tendency to selectively interpret what one sees on the basis of ones interests, background, experience, and attitudes
*we do this because we are not able to observe everything going on around us
*this is one of many shortcuts we use to make judgements and sometimes these shortcuts lead to perceptual distortions
The Halo Effect
this occurs when we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic
Contrast Effects
Perception can be distorted because we don’t evaluate people in isolation.
contrast effect is when the evaluation of a persons characteristics is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics
*this distortion tends to happen between interviewing job candidates
stereotyping
judging someone on the basis of ones perception of the group to which that person belongs
* we have to monitor ourselves to prevent ourselves from applying unfair stereotypes to our evaluations and decisions
interviewers apply shortcuts during Employment Interviews
-evidence indicates that interviewers make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate
Performance expectations
evidence demonstrates that people will attempt to validate their perceptions of reality even when they are faulty
Self-fulfilling Prophecy (the pygmalion effect)
a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives a second person, and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception
performance evaluations
are often subjective and problematic because of the different perceptual errors (contrast effect, halo effect etc)
decisions
choosing from 2 or more alternatives
decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem. what is a problem?
a problem is a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state
rational
characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specific constraints
steps in the rational decision making model
- define
- identify criteria
- allocate weights to criteria
- develop alternatives
- evaluate alternatives
- select best alternative
bounded rationality
a process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity
intuitive decision making
an unconscious process created out of distilled experience
techniques for reducing biases and errors
- focus on goals
- look for belief disconfirming info
- dont try to create meaning out of random events
- increase your options
overconfidence bias
we tend to be overconfident in our abilities and the abilities of others and we are usually not aware of this bias
individuals who’s intellectual and interpersonal abilities are weakest are most likely to overestimate their performance and ability
anchoring bias
fixating on initial information as a starting point and failing to adequately adjust for subsequent information
confirmation bias
this is a type of selective perception
the tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgements
availability bias
the tendency for people to base judgments on information that is readily available
escalation of commitment
an increased commitment to a previous decision in spite of negative information
-this is likely to occur when individuals view themselves as responsible for the outcome
randomness error
tendency to believe we can predict the outcome of random events
-trying to create meaning from random events impairs decision making
risk aversion
the tendency to prefer a sure thing instead of a risky outcome
- ambitious ppl with power that can be taken away appear to be especially risk averse
- ppl will more likely engage in risk-seeking behavior for negative outcomes, and risk averse behavior for positive outcomes, when under stress
hindsight bias
tendency to falsely believe that one has accurately predicted the outcome of an event, after that outcome is actually known
utilitarianism
decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes or consequences
behavioral ethics
analyzes how people actually behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas
creativity
the ability to produce novel and useful ideas
three stage model of creativity
creativity involves three stages:
- causes (creative potential and creative environment)
- creative behavior
- creative outcomes
what are the four steps to creative behavior used in the three stage model of creativity?
problem formulation
information gathering
idea generation
idea evaluation
