Perception
________ is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.
Perception
________ explains the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we assign to a given behavior.
Attribution theory
________ is a decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome?
Rational decision-making model
Rational decision-making model refers to a decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome. It relies on a number of assumptions, including that the decision maker has complete information, is able to identify all the relevant options in an unbiased manner, and chooses the option with the highest utility.
The tendency to seek out information that reaffirms past choices and to discount information that contradicts past judgments is known as ________ bias.
confirmation
Confirmation bias represents a specific case of selective perception. People seek out information that reaffirms past choices and discount information that contradicts them. They also tend to accept at face value information that confirms their preconceived views, while they are critical and skeptical of information that challenges these views.
According to the concept of ________, decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes, ideally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number.
Utilitarianism
According to the ethical yardstick of utilitarianism, decisions are made to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. In this system, decisions are made solely on the basis of their outcomes.
When two people witness something at the same time and in the same situation yet interpret it differently, factors that operate to shape their perceptions reside in the ________.
Perceivers
Since the time and situation are the same, the factors that operate to shape perception must be in the perceivers themselves. Personal characteristics that can affect perception include perceiver attitudes, personality, motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations.
According to the attribution theory, ________, ________, and ________ are the three main factors which attempt to determine an individual's behavior.
Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. Determination, however, depends largely on three factors, namely, distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency.
________ refers to staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence it's wrong.
Escalation of commitment
Escalation of commitment refers to staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence it is wrong.
An individual's cultural background can influence the selection of problems, the depth of analysis, the importance placed on logic and rationality, and whether organizational decisions should be made autocratically by an individual manner or collectively in groups.
True or False
True
The cultural background of a decision maker can influence the selection of problems, the depth of analysis, the importance placed on logic and rationality, and whether organizational decisions
Individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to outsiders are known as ________.
whistle-blowers
Whistle-blowers are individuals who reveal an organization's unethical practices to the press or government agencies, using their right to free speech.
Factors present in a target which may affect perception are novelty, motion, sound, size, background, proximity, and similarity.
True or False
True
If a person responds to a particular situation in the same way over a long time period, then the attribution theory states that the behavior demonstrates ________.
Consistency
Consistency in a person's actions means that the person responds in the same way to the same situation over a long period of time. For instance, an employee who has not been late for several months is perceived differently from an employee who is late two or three times a week. The regularly late employee demonstrates high consistency in tardiness.
A manager doing performance appraisals gives more weight to recent employee behaviors than to behaviors of six or nine months earlier. This shows that the manager's perception is affected by ________ bias.
Availability
Availability bias refers to the tendency for people to base their judgments on information that is readily available to them. Availability bias explains why managers doing performance appraisals give more weight to recent employee behaviors than to behaviors of six or nine months earlier.
Men make better decisions than women.
True or False
False
Who makes better decisions, men or women? It depends on the situation. When the situation isn't stressful, decision making by men and women is about equal in quality. In stressful situations, it appears that men become more egocentric and make more risky decisions, while women become more empathetic and their decision making improves.
An area of study that analyzes how people behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas is ________.
behavioral ethics
An area of study that analyzes how people behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas is behavioral ethics.
Factors present in a situation that may affect perception are work setting and time.
True or False
False. Factors present in a situation that may affect perception are work setting, time, and social setting.
Samantha is never late for work, but last Monday she arrived an hour late because of heavy traffic. According to the attribution theory, Samantha's behavior on that day scores ________.
low on consistency
If a person responds the same way over time then his or her behavior displays consistency. Since Samantha is generally in the office on time, her behavior scores low on consistency.
A process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity is known as ________.
bounded rationality
The human mind cannot formulate and solve complex problems with full rationality. Thus, they operate within the confines of bounded rationality. The process of making decisions by constructing simplified models that extract the essential features from problems without capturing all their complexity is known as bounded rationality.
An organization's reward system influences decision makers by suggesting which choices have better personal payoffs.
True or False
True
An organization's reward system influences decision makers by suggesting which choices have better personal payoffs. If the organization rewards risk aversion, managers are more likely to make conservative decisions.
A focus on utilitarianism creates an environment that hinders productivity and efficiency.
True or False
False
The first ethical yardstick is utilitarianism, which proposes making decisions solely on the basis of their outcomes, ideally to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. This view dominates business decision making. It is consistent with goals such as efficiency, productivity, and high profits.
The perception of a target is unaffected by the perceiver's personality or past experiences
A number of factors operate to shape and sometimes distort perception. These factors can reside in the perceiver, in the object or target being perceived, or in the context of the situation in which the perception is made.
________ bias indicates the tendency of an individual to attribute his or her own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.
Self-serving bias.
Individuals and organizations tend to attribute their own successes to internal factors such as ability or effort and place the blame for failure on external factors such as bad luck or unproductive co-workers.
What is confirmation bias?
The rational decision-making process assumes we objectively gather information. But we don't. We selectively gather it. Confirmation bias represents a specific case of selective perception: we seek out information that reaffirms our past choices, and we discount information that contradicts them. We also tend to accept at face value information that confirms our preconceived views, while we are critical and skeptical of information that challenges them. Therefore, the information we gather is typically biased toward supporting views we already hold. We even tend to seek sources most likely to tell us what we want to hear, and we give too much weight to supporting information and too little to contradictory.
________ bias is a tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information.
Anchoring bias
Anchoring bias is a tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to adequately adjust for subsequent information. It occurs because our mind appears to give a disproportionate amount of emphasis to the first information it receives.
________, ________, and ________ are the components of the three-component model of creativity?
Expertise, creative-thinking skills, and intrinsic task motivation
a) Expertise is the foundation for all creative work. The potential for creativity is enhanced when individuals have abilities, knowledge, proficiencies, and similar expertise in their field of endeavor.
b) The second component is creative-thinking skills. This encompasses personality characteristics associated with creativity, the ability to use analogies, as well as the talent to see the familiar in a different light.
c) The final component is intrinsic task motivation. This is the desire to work on something because it is interesting, involving, exciting, satisfying, or personally challenging. This motivational component is what turns creativity potential into actual creative ideas. It determines the extent to which individuals fully engage their expertise and creative skills.