Chapter 6: Perceptions and Individual Decision Making

Question 1

perception

Answer 1

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

Question 2

factors that influence perception

Answer 2

perceiver (sometimes we see and hear what we want, not what is true), target (the characteristics of the target, the relationship of a target to its background influences perception), context (the time at which we seen an object or vent can influence our attention, as can location, light, heat, or situational factors).

Question 3

attribution theory

Answer 3

an attempt to explain the ways we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a behavior, such as determining whether an individual’s behavior is internally or externally caused

Question 4

fundamental attribution error

Answer 4

the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgements about the behavior of others

Question 5

self-serving bias

Answer 5

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

Question 6

selective perception

Answer 6

the tendency to choose to interpret what one sees based on one’s interests, background, experience, and attitudes

Question 7

halo effect

Answer 7

the tendency to draw a positive general impression about an individual based on a single characteristic

Question 8

horns effect

Answer 8

the tendency to draw a negative general impression about an individual based on a single characteristic

Question 9

contrast effect

Answer 9

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

Question 10

stereotyping

Answer 10

judging someone based on one’s perception of the group to which that person belongs

Question 11

self fulfilling prophecy

Answer 11

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

Question 12

decisions

Answer 12

choices made from among two or more alternatives

Question 13

problem

Answer 13

a discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state; it requires us to consider alternative courses of action

Question 14

rational

Answer 14

characterized by making consistent, value maximizing choices within specified constraints

Question 15

rational decision making model

Answer 15

a decision making model that describes how individuals should behave to maximize some outcome

Question 16

bounded rationality

Answer 16

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

Question 17

intuitive decision making

Answer 17

an unconscious process created out of distilled experience

Question 18

overconfidence bias

Answer 18

we tend to be overconfident about our abilities and the abilities of others

Question 19

anchoring bias

Answer 19

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

Question 20

confirmation bias

Answer 20

the tendency to seek information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgements

Question 21

availability bias

Answer 21

the tendency for people to base their judgements on information that is readily available to them

Question 22

escalation of committment

Answer 22

an increased commitment to a previous decision despite negative information. this usually occurs when individuals feel responsible for the outcome. the fear of personal failures even biases the way we search for and evaluate information so that we choose only information that supports our dedication

Question 23

randomness error

Answer 23

the tendency of individuals to believe that they can predict the outcome of random events

Question 24

risk aversion

Answer 24

the tendency to prefer a sure thing over a risky outcome

Question 25

hindsight bias

Answer 25

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

Question 26

what individual factors affect decision making?

Answer 26

personality, gender, mental ability, cultural differences

Question 27

organizational constraints

Answer 27

performance evaluation systems, reward systems, formal regulations, system imposed time constraints, and historical precendents

Question 28

utilitarianism

Answer 28

an ethical perspective in which decisions are made to provide the greatest good for all

Question 29

whistle blowers

Answer 29

individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to outsiders

Question 30

deonance

Answer 30

a perspective in which ethical decisions are made because you “ought to” in order to be consistent with moral norms, principles, standards, rules, and laws

Question 31

how do companies increase ethical decision making in organizations?

Answer 31

adjusting superficial aspects such as lighting, outward displays of status, cleanliness. managers should encourage conversations about moral issues; they may serve as a reminder and increase ethical decisions making

Question 32

creativity

Answer 32

the ability to produce novel and useful ideas

Question 33

steps in creativity

Answer 33

problem formulation, information gathering, idea generation, and idea evaluation

Question 34

problem formulation

Answer 34

the stage of creative behavior that involves identifying a problem or opportunity requiring a solution that is yet unknown

Question 35

info gathering

Answer 35

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

Question 36

idea generation

Answer 36

the process of creative behavior that involves developing possible solutions to a problem from relevant information and knowledge

Question 37

idea evaluation

Answer 37

the process of creative behavior involving the evaluation of potential solutions to problems to identify the best one

Question 38

intelligence and creativity

Answer 38

smart people are better at solving complex problems, and therefore, are more creative. they also may be more creative because they have larger working memory

Question 39

personality and creativity

Answer 39

the big five personality trait of openness to experience correlates with creativity, probably because open individuals are less conformist in action and more divergent in thinking

Question 40

expertise and creativity

Answer 40

expertise is the foundation for all creative work and this is the single most important predictor of creative potential

Question 41

ethics and creativity

Answer 41

although creativity is linked to many desirable individual characteristics, it is not correlated with ethicality