Diversity and Decision Making

surface level diversity

Easily perceived characteristics that activate stereotypes and are generally not related to a person's ability represent this kind of diversity

prototype

The ideal example or representation of a certain group or role is known as this.

overconfidence

The bane of an entrepreneur's existence, this bias leads us to think we are better than we are and overestimate our skills & abilities.

perception

This process is how individuals organize and interpret sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment, thereby affecting how they interact with the world, and leading some to say "____ is reality."

context

We put a lot of effort into determining why people do what they do, and attribute their actions to either their character or this. 

implicit bias

Attitudes or beliefs that are hard to combat because they affect our behavior unconsciously

role congruity theory

This theory argues that some stereotypes are more consistent with certain prototypes.

biases

These affect the way we think, often in a negative way, and hinder our decisions.

system two thinking

This system of thinking activates our logic and deliberative processes and can help us make better decisions.

escalation of commitment

Politicians who make a public statement and then "double down" on the claim or promise, despite evidence that they were wrong, are suffering from this.

stereotypes

Expectations about how a person should act based on the group they seem to represent are known as these.

specific status characteristics

These types of status characteristics are relevant to a person's skills or abilities but are used to allocate status only in specific contexts. 

confirmation bias

Dr. Boss dismisses the complaints about a manager's verbally abusive behavior and focuses on the recent increase in profits when evaluating his decision to hire that manager. Dr. Boss is demonstrating this bias.

opportunity costs

These costs are what we give up whenever we choose a course of action.

fundamental attribution error

Judging someone as a bad driver when they cut you off but excusing the fact you ran the stop sign because you are late for work demonstrates this type of error.

discrimination

If you distribute resources based on certain criteria, you are doing this

diffuse status characteristics

These characteristics transcend settings and are assumed to indicate meaningful information about a person, although they are often not related to work performance.

availability bias

You watch the news and hear a story about a shooting that happens in Citystate. Your neighbor later tells you they are planning a vacation to Citystate. Even though Citystate is actually one of the safer cities in the nation, you tell them that Citystate is an unsafe and dangerous place. Your belief is probably due to this bias.

intuitive decision-making

When you "trust your gut" and make decisions based on an unconscious process created from distilled experience, you are using this type of decision-making model, which is more prone to biases.

sunk costs

When someone tells you to "cut your losses," they are referring to these kinds of costs.

status characteristics

The opportunities we give people, how we evaluate performance, and how much status we give someone are often influenced by these types of characteristics.

deep-level diversity

Groups benefit when members have different expertise, experiences, perspectives, and skills, and these differences represent this kind of diversity. 

bounded rationality

Rational decision-making might be best, but our human limitations make this type of decision-making the more viable option.

satisficing

Because people have bounded rationality, they often pick an option that works, without searching for the "best" solution, a process known as this.

hindsight bias

People who look back on 2020 and say that we should have known what would happen are suffering from this kind of bias.