Psychological Traps 101
Emphasize personality or character traits to explain actions
Fundamental attribution error
focus too much on first piece of information
Anchoring trap
assumes that because two variables move together, one "causes" the other
Conflating Causation with Correlation
when an advocacy approach to decision making makes sense
Motivation driven by a sense of fairness
Equity theory
Halo effect
continue to invest time, money, energy into losing proposition because you've already invested in it
sunk cost trap
determines the reliability, accuracy, and generalizability of your results
sample size
when an inquiry approach to decision making makes sense
Consider range of options, information sharing, critical thinking
Motivation occurs when belief effort will lead to performance, performance will lead to reward (that is valued)
Expectancy theory
estimate likelihood of event based on how easily examples come to mind
Availability bias
people decide based on how information is presented rather than the evidence
Framing trap
focus on easy to measure rather than what matters and may be difficult or impractical to determine
Focusing on wrong outcomes
Inquiry approach that encourages revision-critique-revision cycle
Intellectual watchdog
Four drives in the Four Drive model
default to familiar options
Status quo trap
attribute positive events and successes to internal traits or personal effort, while blaming negative outcomes and failures on external circumstances
Self-serving bias
making broad claims based on single finding
Misjudging generalizability
One group submits proposal, the other group responds with alternative
Condenses Maslow model into three core categories: existence, relatedness, and growth
desire for harmony or conformity leads to less than optimal decision making process
groupthink
expert assumes others understand/"know" what they know
Curse of knowledge
picking only the data points that support a specific conclusion while hiding all other facts.
cherry picking
Three keys to effective inquiry
conflict, consideration, closure
Distinguishes between hygiene factors that prevent dissatisfaction and motivators which encourage superior performance
Herzberg's Two-Factor theory