Chapter 5: Perception And Individual Decision Making

Front 1

Define Perception.

Back 1

Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. However, what one perceives can be substantially different from objective reality.

Front 2

Define attribution theory.

Back 2

Attribution theory is when individuals observe behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.

Front 3

Define fundamental attribution error.

Back 3

Fundamental attribution error is the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others.

Front 4

Define self-serving bias.

Back 4

Self-serving bias is the tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors.

Front 5

What is selective perception?

Back 5

Selective perception is where people selectively interpret what they see on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes.

Front 6

Define the halo effect.

Back 6

The halo effect is drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic, such as intelligence, sociability, or appearance.

Front 7

What are contrast effects?

Back 7

Contrast effects are the evaluation of a person's characteristics that are affected by comparisons with other people recently encountered who rank higher or lower on the same characteristics.

Front 8

What is projection?

Back 8

Projection is attributing one's own characteristics to other people.

Front 9

Define stereotyping.

Back 9

Stereotyping is judging someone on the basis of one's perception of the group to which that person belongs.

Front 10

Define self-fulfilling prophecy.

Back 10

Self-fulfilling prophecy is a situation in which one person inaccurately perceives a second person and the resulting expectations cause the second person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception.

Front 11

When does decision making occur?

Back 11

Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem. That is a discrepancy between some current state of affairs and some desired state, requiring the consideration of alternative courses of action.

Front 12

The optimizing decision maker is rational. What does this mean?

Back 12

The optimizing decision maker is rational. That is, he or she makes consistent, value-maximizing choices within specified constraints.

Front 13

What are the six steps in the rational decision-making model?

Back 13

The six steps in the rational decision-making model are:
1. Define the problem.
2. Identify the decision criteria.
3. Allocate weights to the criteria.
4. Develop the alternatives.
5. Select the best alternative.

Front 14

What is the rational decision-making model?

Back 14

A decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome.

Front 15

The rational decision-making model contains a number of assumptions. Name six of them.

Back 15

1. Problem Clarity
2. Known options
3. Clear preferences
4. Constant preferences
5. No time or cost constraints
6. Maximum payoff.

Front 16

Define problem clarity (with regards to the rational decision-making model).

Back 16

Problem Clarity:
The problem is clear and unambiguous. The decision maker is assumed to have complete information regarding the decision situation.

Front 17

Define known options (with regards to the rational decision-making model).

Back 17

Known Options:
It is assumed the decision maker can identify all the relevant criteria and can list all the viable alternatives. Furthermore, the decision maker is aware of all the possible consequences of each alternative.

Front 18

Define clear preferences (with regards to the rational decision-making model).

Back 18

Clear Preferences:
Rationality assumes that the criteria and alternatives can be ranked and weighted to reflect their importance.

Front 19

Define constant preferences (with regards to the rational decision-making model).

Back 19

Constant preferences:
It's assumed that the specific decision criteria are constant and that the weights assigned to them are stable over time.