Chapter
5
Perception
and Individual Decision Making
I.
Some
basic concepts in perception
II. Kelley's attribution theory
Consensus
Consistency
Distinctiveness
III. Attribution biases
Fundamental
attribution error
Actor-observer
effect
Self-serving
bias
Selective
perception
Projection
Stereotyping
Halo
effect
Self-fulfilling
prophecy
IV.
Individual
decision making
Decision
making models
Heuristics
and biases in judgment and decision making
I.
Some
basic concepts in perception
Perceiver, target, situation
·
Disposition: a quality or trait that distinguishes one
person or group from another.
·
Attribution: an inference about the cause of a person’s
action. (perceived cause)
·
Internal
attribution: an inference that a
person’s behavior is caused by a personal disposition
·
External
attribution: an inference that a
person’s behavior is caused by an environmental or situational factor
II. Kelley's attribution theory
Consensus: the extent to which others react in the same
manner to some stimulus or event as the
person we are considering
Consistency: the extent to which the person reacts to
this stimulus
or event in the same way on other occasions
Distinctiveness: the extent to which the person reacts in the
same manner to other, different stimuli or events
How to make attributions?
Consensus Consistency Distinctiveness Attribution
High High
High -------> External
Low High
Low -------> Internal
III. Attribution biases
· Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to explain others' actions in terms of dispositional (internal) rather than situational (external) causes.
·
Actor-observer
effect: the tendency to attribute our
own behavior to situational causes but that of others to internal ones.
·
Self-serving
bias: the tendency to take credit for
positive behaviors but to blame negative ones on external causes.
·
Selective
perception: people selectively
interpret what they see based on their interests, background, experience, and
attitudes.
·
Projection: attributing one's own characteristics to
other people.
·
Stereotyping: judging someone on the basis of one's
perception of the group to which that person belongs
·
Halo
effect: drawing a general impression
about an individual based on a single characteristic.
·
Self-fulfilling
prophecy: a two-phase process
(1) an individual defines a situation
incorrectly;
(2) her subsequent actions (prompted by the definition) cause the originally incorrect conception to become reality
IV. Individual Decision Making
A. Decision making models
1) The
optimizing model
Assumptions:
rationality
People are rational, goal-oriented; they
have clear and constant
preferences; all options are known, and
final choice will maximize the outcome
6
steps: Ascertain the need for a
decision
Identify the decision criteria
Allocate weights to the criteria
Develop the alternatives
Evaluate the alternatives
Select the best alternative
2) The
satisficing model
Assumption: bounded rationality
People make decisions by constructing
simplified models that extract the
essential features from problems without
capturing all their complexity.
B. Heuristics and biases in decision making
(Kahnman
& Tversky, 1970s--)
1) Representativeness
heuristic: the more similar an individual
is to a typical members of a given group, the more likely he or she is to belong
to that group. Generally, it refers
to the phenomenon that probabilities are evaluated by the
degree to which A is the representative of B, i.e., by the
degree to which A resembles B.
2) Availability: a judgmental heuristic in which people assess
the frequency of a class or the probability of an event by the ease with which instances or occurrences can be brought to mind.
3) Anchoring: different starting points yield different estimates,
which are biased toward the initial value.
It occurs when (a) there is a reference point or (b) estimate is based on the result of some
incomplete computation.
4)
Framing: the way questions are framed influences decisions
5)
Nonrational
escalation of commitment: refers to the tendency to bias decisions by one’s
past actions, particularly after receiving negative feedback about such
actions.
Barry Staw and Jerry Ross
Escalation
of commitment The sunk cost effect
Psychology
of entrapment The too-much-invested-to-quit syndrome
Determinants
Project
determinants:
·
whether
a setback is judged to be due to a permanent or temporary problem
·
whether
further investment is likely to b efficacious
·
how
large a goal or payoff may result from continued investment
·
future
expenditures or costs necessary to achieve a project’s payoff
·
the
number of times previous commitments have failed to yield returns
Psychological
determinants:
·
framing
effects
·
self-justification
biases
·
confirmation
trap
Social
determinants:
·
face-saving
·
external
binding (attribution bias)
Organizational
determinants:
·
institutional
inertia
·
politics
·
organizational
image or identity