Chapter 6

perception

perception

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

attribution theory

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

selective perception

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

halo effect

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

horns effect

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

contrast effect

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

decisions

choices made from among two or more alternatives

problem

a discrepancy between the current state and some desired state

rational

a style of decision making characterized by making consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints

rational decision-making model

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

bounded rationality

a simplified process of making decisions by perceiving and interpreting the essential features of problems without capturing their complexity

intractable problem

a problem that may change entirely or become irrelevant before we finish the process of organizing our thoughts, gathering information, analyzing the information, and making judgments or decisions

intuitive decision making

an unconscious process created out of distilled experience

overconfidence bias

a tendency to be overconfident about our own abilities or the abilities of others

anchoring bias

a tendency to fixate on initial information, from which one then fails to adjust adequately for subsequent information

confirmation bias

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

availability bias

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

escalation of commitment

an increased commitment to a previous decision despite negative information

randomness error

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

risk aversion

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

hindsight bias

the tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome

outcome bias

the tendency to judge the quality of a decision based on the desirability or believability of its outcome

utilitarianism

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

whistleblowers

individuals who report unethical practices by their employer to outsiders

deonance

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

behavioral ethics

analyzing why people behave the way they do when confronted with ethical dilemmas

creativity

the ability to produce novel and useful ideas

problem formulation

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

information gathering

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

idea generation

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

idea evaluation

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