Chapter 6: Perception and Individual Decision Making

Question 1

Perception

Answer 1

a process by which individuals organize and interpret sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

Question 2

Why is perception important in the study of OB

Answer 2

Simply because people’s behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

Question 3

personal characteristics

Answer 3

attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.

Question 4

Attribution Theory

Answer 4

tries to explain the ways we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a behaviour.

It suggests that when we observe an individual’s behaviour, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused.

Question 5

Attribution Theory factors

Answer 5

(1) distinctiveness, (2) consensus, and (3) consistency

Question 6

Internally caused behaviours

Answer 6

are those an observer believes to be under the personal control of another individual

Question 7

Externally caused behaviour

Answer 7

what we imagine the situation forced the individual to do.

Question 8

Distinctiveness

Answer 8

refers to whether an individual displays different behaviours in different situations.

Question 9

consensus

Answer 9

If everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way

Question 10

consistency

Answer 10

Does the person respond the same way over time?

Question 11

Fundamental attribution error

Answer 11

The tendency to UNDERESTIOMATE THE INFLUENCE OF EXTERNAL Factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behaviours of others

Question 12

Self-serving bias

Answer 12

The tendency of individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failure on external factors

Question 13

Selective perception

Answer 13

Any characteristic that makes a person, object, or event stand out will increase the probability that it will be perceived

Question 14

Halo effcet

Answer 14

The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic

Question 15

Contrast effect

Answer 15

Evaluation of a person’s characteristics that is affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristic

Question 16

Stereotyping

Answer 16

When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs

Question 17

Decisions

Answer 17

Choices from among two or more alternatives

Question 18

Problem

Answer 18

A discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state

Question 19

Rational

Answer 19

Characterized by making consistent, value-maximising choices within a specified constraints

Question 20

Rational decision-making model

Answer 20

A decision making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximise some outcome

Question 21

6 steps to Rational decision-making model

Answer 21

1) Define the problem
2) Identify the Decision Criteria
3) Allocate Weights to the Criteria
4) Develop the Alternatives
5) Evaluate the Alternatives
6) Select the Best Alternative

Question 22

Bounded rationality

Answer 22

Process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity

Question 23

Intuitive decision making

Answer 23

An unconscious process created out of distilled experience

Question 24

Avoiding biases and errors

Answer 24

Focus on goals.
Look for information that disconfirms your beliefs.
Don’t try to create meaning out of random events.
Increase your options.

Question 25

Anchoring bias

Answer 25

A tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information.

Question 26

Confirmation bias

Answer 26

Tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments

Question 27

Availability bias

Answer 27

A tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information.

Question 28

Escalation of commitment

Answer 28

A tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information.

Question 29

Risk aversion

Answer 29

The tendency to prefer a sure gain of a moderate amount over a riskier outcome, even if the riskier outcome might have a higher expected payoff

Question 30

Hindsight bias

Answer 30

the tendency to believe falsely, after the outcome is known, that we would have accurately predicted it

Question 31

Utilitarianism

Answer 31

which proposes making decisions solely on the basis of their outcomes, ideally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number

Question 32

Whistle-blowers

Answer 32

They reveal an organization’s unethical practices to the press or government agencies using their right of free speech.

Question 33

Behavioural ethics

Answer 33

an area of study that analyzes how people behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas

Question 34

Creativity

Answer 34

The ability to produce novel and useful ideas. Novel ideas are different from what’s been done before but are appropriate for the problem.

Question 35

Three-stage model of creativity

Answer 35

The core of the model is creative behaviour, which has both causes (predictors of creative behaviour) and effects (outcomes of creative behaviour)

Question 36

Creative behaviour occurs in four steps

Answer 36

1) Problem formulation 2) Information gathering. 3) Idea generation. 4) Idea evaluation.

Question 37

problem formulation

Answer 37

defined as the stage of creative behaviour in which we identify a problem or opportunity that requires a solution as yet unknown.

Question 38

Information gathering.

Answer 38

the stage of creative behaviour when possible solutions to a problem incubate in an individual’s mind.

Question 39

Idea generation.

Answer 39

the process of creative behaviour in which we develop possible solutions to a problem from relevant information and knowledge.

Question 40

Idea evaluation.

Answer 40

the process of creative behaviour in which we evaluate potential solutions to identify the best one.