Decision Making Flashcards
A conceptual analysis of the steps or processes that groups generally follow when making a decision, with a focus on the intended purpose of each step or process in the overall decision-making sequence.
Functional theory of group decision making
Knowledge, expectations, conceptualizations, and other cognitive representations that
members of a group have in common pertaining to the group and its members, tasks, procedures, and resources.
Shared mental model
A task will expand to fill the time available for its completion.
Parkinson’s law
The amount of time a group spends on
discussing any issue will be in inverse proportion to the consequentiality of the issue.
Law of triviality
A general theoretical explanation of group decision making assuming that groups use communication and discussion among members to gather and process the information needed to formulate decisions, choices, and judgments.
Collective information processing model
A group’s combined memories, including each member’s memories, the group’s shared
mental models, and transactive memory systems.
Collective memory
The enhancement of recall that occurs
during group discussion when the statements made by group members serve as cues for the retrieval of information from the memories of other group members.
Cross-cueing
A process by which information to be remembered is distributed to various members of the group who can then be relied upon to provide that information when it is needed.
Transactive memory system
A strategy or rule used in a group to select a single alternative from among various
alternatives proposed and discussed during the group’s deliberations, including explicitly acknowledged decision rules
Social decision scheme
Perception of the fairness and legitimacy of the methods used to make decisions, resolve
disputes, and allocate resources; also, in judicial contexts, the use of fair and impartial procedures.
Procedural justice
A theory of decision making and leadership developed by Victor Vroom that predicts the effectiveness of group-centered, consultative, and autocratic decisional procedures across
a number of group settings.
Normative model of decision making
The tendency for groups to spend more time discussing information that all members
know (shared information) and less time examining information that only a few members know (unshared)
Shared information bias
A set of integrated tools groups use to structure and facilitate their decision
making, including computer programs that expedite data acquisition, communication among group members, document sharing, and the systematic review of alternative actions and outcomes.
Group decision support systems
The tendency to seek out information that confirms one’s inferences rather than disconfirms them
Confirmation bias
A self-report measure of willingness to make risky decisions that asks respondents to read a series of scenarios involving a course
of action that may or may not yield financial, interpersonal, or educational benefits, then indicate what the odds of success would have to be before they would recommend the course of action.
Choice-Dilemmas Questionnaire
The tendency for groups to make riskier decisions than individuals.
Risky-shift phenomenon
The tendency for members of a deliberating group to move to a more extreme position, with the direction of the shift determined by the majority or average of the members’ pre-deliberation preferences.
Group polarization
An explanation of polarization in groups assuming that group members change
their opinions during group discussion, generally adopting the position favored by the majority of the members, because the group can generate more arguments favoring
that position.
Persuasive-arguments theory
Imbibing alcoholic drinks in a group context; also, the psychological and group-level changes that occur when groups become inebriated.
Groupdrink
A group member who shields the group
from negative or controversial information by gatekeeping and suppressing dissent.
Mindguard
The counterintuitive tendency for a
group to decide on a course of action that none of the members of the group individually endorses, resulting from the group’s failure to recognize and manage its
agreement on key issues.
Abilene paradox
When members of a group hold a
wide range of opinions, beliefs, or judgments but express similar opinions, beliefs, or judgments publicly because each member believes that his or her personal view is
different from that of the others in the group.
Pluralistic ignorance
A form of escalating investment in which
individuals expend more of their resources in pursuing a chosen course of action than seems appropriate or justifiable by external standards.
Entrapment
An investment or loss of resources that cannot be recouped by current or future actions.
Sunk cost
A group-level syndrome caused by
members’ excessive strivings to maintain and support their group’s unity that results in perturbations in a group’s decision-making capability and intergroup relations
Group-centrism
The psychological desire to reach a final decision swiftly and completely; also, the relative strength of this tendency, as indicated by a preference for order, predictability, decisiveness, and closed-mindedness.
Cognitive closure
