Deck 6: Perception and Individual Decision Making

Question 1

Which of the following is an example of internally caused behavior?

A) An employee was late for a team meeting because of a heavy downpour.
B) An employee was laid off because the company was attempting to cut costs by laying off employees.
C) An employee was fired from work because he violated a company policy.
D) An employee could not attend an interview because of a delayed flight.
E) An employee could not come to work because he met with an accident.

Answer 1

C
Explanation: Internally caused behaviors are those we believe to be under the personal control of the individual.

Question 2

Which of the following is a factor present in a perceiver which may affect perception?

A) interest
B) similarity
C) sound
D) proximity
E) background

Answer 2

A
Explanation: Factors present in a perceiver which may affect perception are attitudes, motives, interests, experience, and expectations.

Question 3

Monica Walden feels that people who use plastic bags are insensitive toward the environment. She believes that people have a certain obligation toward their environment and should take it upon themselves to protect and preserve it. Which of the following factors has most likely influenced Walden's perception of plastic bag users?

A) location
B) time
C) characteristic of the target
D) expectation
E) context

Answer 3

D
Explanation: 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.

Question 4

People's behavior is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself.

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of externally caused behavior?

A) An employee postpones a meeting because he overslept.
B) An employee is late to work because of a punctured tire.
C) An employee was fired because he violated a company policy.
D) An employee was promoted when he achieved more than the assigned objectives.
E) An employee closed a sale with an important corporate client because of his excellent negotiation skills.

Question 6

The perception of a target is unaffected by the perceiver's personality or past experiences.

Question 7

David Myers is of the opinion that people who drive SUVs are rash drivers. He feels that people driving SUVs do not respect road rules and always violate traffic regulations. What personal factor is most likely to be affecting Myers' perception of SUV drivers?

A) his financial background
B) his expectations
C) his interest
D) his motive
E) his personality

Question 8

Explain with an example the contrast effect.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is true regarding perception?

A) Perception of reality is independent of one's personality.
B) Our perception of a target is not affected by the context of the situation in which the perception is made.
C) Our perception of reality can be different from the objective reality.
D) Our perception of reality is independent of our past experiences.
E) We form a perception of a target by looking at it in isolation.

Question 10

________ explains the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we assign to a given behavior.

A) Attribution theory
B) Equity theory
C) Object relations theory
D) Attachment theory
E) Cultural schema theory

Question 11

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 ________.

A) perceivers
B) target
C) timing
D) context
E) situation

Question 12

Which of the following is a factor present in a target which may affect a person's perception?

A) attitude
B) motive
C) interest
D) novelty
E) experience

Question 13

People are usually not aware of the factors that influence their view of reality.

Question 14

Extremely attractive or unattractive individuals are most likely to be noticed in a group. Which of the following statements best describes the reason behind this?

A) Our perception of reality depends on our past experiences.
B) Our perception of reality depends on our personality.
C) We don't look at targets in isolation.
D) The time at which we see an object can influence our perception of the object.
E) Our motives and expectations affect our perception of a target.

Question 15

During team meetings, Amber Downing always notices that Rhona Law tends to ask many questions and suggest ideas at each discussion. However, Law stands out in the meetings only because she is the only one making suggestions. If both of them were part of team meetings where almost all members made suggestions and asked questions, Law would not have drawn as much attention from Downing. Which of the following factors has most likely influenced Downing's perception of Law?

A) expectation
B) interest
C) past experience
D) context
E) motive

Question 16

Which of the following is a factor present in a situation which may affect a person's perception?

A) similarity
B) size
C) expectation
D) time
E) experience

Question 17

________ is the process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment.

A) Sensation
B) Impression
C) Apprehension
D) Attribution
E) Perception

Question 18

Alicia Akers works as a marketing executive. She always talks in a high pitch and often draws a lot of attention wherever she is. Which of the following statements best explains the reason behind people noticing Akers?

A) Perception of reality depends on the perceiver's past experiences.
B) Perception of reality depends on the perceiver's personality.
C) Characteristics of the target affect people's perception.
D) The time at which we observe behavior affects perception.
E) Motives and interests of the perceiver affects perception of behavior.

Question 19

Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individual's behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. That determination, however, depends largely on three factors. Which of the following is one of these three factors?

A) traceability
B) consistency
C) verifiability
D) relatedness
E) affect intensity

Question 20

What is perception? Discuss the factors that influence perception.

Question 21

Janice is late for work each day by about ten minutes. How would attribution theory describe this behavior?

A) It shows consensus.
B) It shows similarity.
C) It shows consistency.
D) It shows reliability.
E) It shows distinctiveness.

Question 22

Jane Allen, a campaign manager at a non-profit organization, often takes full credit for project successes even when her team members' contributions play a big role in achieving milestones. However, when projects receive setbacks, she blames her team members and sometimes states that the situation was beyond her control. Allen's behavior is an example of ________ bias.

A) impact
B) anchoring
C) confirmation
D) distinction
E) self-serving

Question 23

Laura Simpson, a campaign manager at a child rights organization in Jakarta, planned a marathon for celebrities to raise money for underprivileged children. Though all arrangements for the event had been made, a few days before the event she realized that on the same day there was a political rally happening in the city which would block access to the route on which the marathon was supposed to be undertaken. In such a situation, what is Simpson, who suffers from self-serving bias, most likely to say?

A) I did not do sufficient research on public events in the city.
B) My colleagues did not inform me about the rally.
C) The director had warned me of this. I should have known better.
D) I should have weighed feasibility options for the event.
E) I should have established better contacts to know about this update.

Question 24

Individuals engage in ________ because it is impossible for them to assimilate everything they see and can take in only certain stimuli.

A) selective perception
B) cognitive dissonance
C) self-serving bias
D) emotional labor
E) self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 25

According to the attribution theory, if everyone who faces a similar situation responds in the same way, we can say the behavior shows ________.

A) distinctiveness
B) tractability
C) consensus
D) consistency
E) manageability

Question 26

Johanna Springer, who works as a sales executive at Pascal's Bank, is upset at the way her manager, Emma Womack, always calls her in for one-on-one meetings to discuss her underperformance. Though Springer makes a higher number of sales calls and works longer hours than last year, her sales figures are still low. She knows that the main reason behind her underperformance is the recent economic meltdown in the country. However, her manager feels that Springer's underperformance is the result of her laid-back attitude and has nothing to do with external factors. In this situation, Womack's behavior is characterized by a(n) ________.

A) anchoring bias
B) contrast effect
C) fundamental attribution error
D) self-fulfilling prophecy
E) Pygmalion effect

Question 27

According to the attribution theory, if a behavior scores ________, we tend to attribute it to internal causes.

A) low on consistency
B) high on rigidity
C) low on distinctiveness
D) high on consensus
E) low on conformity

Question 28

According to the attribution theory, if a behavior scores ________, we tend to attribute it to external causes.

A) low on distinctiveness
B) low on adaptability
C) low on consistency
D) high on stability
E) low on consensus

Question 29

Naomi Fisher, a sales manager at Pure, a water purifier company, had a new member, Leah Marshall, join her team. Though during Leah's interview, Naomi felt she would be a productive sales executive, her performance has often been below the mark. Consistently in the past three months, Leah has been unable to reach her targets and is falling substantially behind on her annual targets. Naomi assumes that Leah is not determined and motivated enough to do what it takes. Which of the following, if true, weakens Naomi's assumption?

A) Leah has often arrived late for team meetings conducted in the morning.
B) Leah has been assigned a sales territory where consumers are from low income groups.
C) Leah has good interpersonal skills and gets along well with her customers.
D) Research showed that the company's largest competitor had a lower turnover than they did.
E) Naomi recently received feedback from other team members that Leah is often uncooperative.

Question 30

Johanna Murray, a climate campaigner at The National Footprint Foundation, is known in her organization to be a campaigner of caliber and high performance. She recently worked on a campaign against global warming during which she worked extremely hard to achieve project milestones. However, the campaign failed as it could not achieve the desired objective. Due to this, her manager, Brenda Owens, gave her a poor performance appraisal. In the appraisal, Brenda said that Johanna was not motivated and failed to reach out to 25,000 people through Internet media to spread awareness about climate change. Which of the following, if true, weakens Brenda's statement?

A) Johanna lacks experience in publicizing campaigns using Internet media.
B) Brenda was unable to make time for Johanna to brief her on the tasks involved in carrying out the campaign's media strategy.
C) Johanna recently moved from the agriculture campaign to the climate campaign.
D) Johanna's previous job involved an extensive amount of researching on environmental issues.
E) Brenda is known in the organization to be a fair and unbiased manager.

Question 31

According to the attribution theory, ________ is one of the three main factors which attempt to determine an individual's behavior.

A) distinctiveness
B) perverseness
C) flexibleness
D) resilience
E) timorousness

Question 32

With reference to the attribution theory, which of the following terms indicates the extent to which an individual displays different behaviors in different situations?

A) flexibility
B) integrity
C) consensus
D) consistency
E) distinctiveness

Question 33

According to the attribution theory, which of the following behaviors is most likely to be attributed to an external cause?

A) a behavior that scores high on consensus
B) a behavior that scores low on distinctiveness
C) a behavior that scores high on consistency
D) a behavior that scores low on traceability
E) a behavior that scores high on rigidity

Question 34

Megan Cardova, who works as a sales executive at Orbit Bank, has been failing to meet her sales targets for the last 10 months. Recently, she had a face-to-face discussion with her manager where she said that the unrealistic targets were the reason for her underperformance. The manager, however, noticed that all the other team members were achieving their targets and sometimes were even achieving more than the set numbers. Which of the following is Cardova's behavior most likely to be characterized as according to the attribution theory?

A) low distinctiveness
B) high rigidity
C) high traceability
D) low consensus
E) low consistency

Question 35

When individuals observe another person's behavior, they attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused. Which of the following attempts to explain this phenomenon?

A) Pygmalion effect
B) emotional dissonance
C) attribution theory
D) two-factor theory
E) framing effect

Question 36

________ 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.

A) Status quo
B) Self-serving
C) Distinction
D) Congruence
E) Anchoring

Question 37

Which of the following terms best describes the tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others?

A) fundamental attribution error
B) bandwagon effect
C) contrast effect
D) emotional dissonance
E) self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 38

Janice Yoder works in an environmental campaigning organization and often needs to interact with a large team for project implementation activities. However, she always finds it difficult to work as a part of a team. She always seems to have major disagreements with team members which lead to antagonistic relations between them. Though she has moved from one team to another, her relations with colleagues always seem to be hostile and cold. How would the attribution theory describe this behavior?

A) low on consensus
B) high on reliability
C) high on adaptability
D) high on consistency
E) low on distinctiveness

Question 39

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 ________.

A) distinctiveness
B) consensus
C) consistency
D) discontinuity
E) traceability

Question 40

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 ________.

A) high on reliability
B) low on distinctiveness
C) high on traceability
D) low on consistency
E) high on stability

Question 41

Attribution theory tries to explain the ways in which we judge people differently, depending on the meaning we attribute to a given behavior.

Question 42

You are more likely to notice a car like your own due to ________.

A) stereotyping
B) self-serving bias
C) halo effect
D) selective perception
E) contrast effect

Question 43

Which of the following statements is true regarding a contrast effect?

A) It attributes success to internal factors and blames failure on external factors.
B) It involves judging a person on the basis of perception of the group to which he or she belongs.
C) It involves evaluation of a person's characteristics based on comparison with another person.
D) It indicates a tendency to draw a general conclusion about a person on the basis of one feature.
E) It indicates a tendency to fixate on initial information and fail to accept subsequent data.

Question 44

Stereotyping helps individuals make quick decisions through generalizations.

Question 45

Which of the following describes the halo effect?

A) attributing our own successes to internal factors and failures to external factors
B) judging someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he or she belongs
C) interpreting a person's behavior in comparison to others recently encountered
D) drawing a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic
E) underestimating the influence of external factors when making judgments about people

Question 46

William Davies, a guest relations executive at a five-star deluxe hotel, regularly interacts with bureaucrats, politicians, celebrities, and other prosperous individuals. He feels that all rich people are kind, hardworking, and friendly. Which of the following best characterizes Davies' perception?

A) confirmation bias
B) self-serving bias
C) randomness error
D) halo effect
E) hindsight bias

Question 47

Which of the following terms refers to a situation in which a person inaccurately perceives another person and the resulting expectations cause the other person to behave in ways consistent with the original perception?

A) confirmation bias
B) self-fulfilling prophecy
C) attribution theory
D) contrast effect
E) bandwagon effect

Question 48

Amanda Winter worked as a public engagement coordinator at Safe Food Alliance until three months ago when her manager, Laura Morris, promoted her to the position of a sustainable food campaigner. However, soon after this, Laura noticed that Amanda was facing major difficulties in achieving campaign milestones and the project was falling behind schedule due to her lack of performance. Which of the following, if true, would most strengthen the argument that Laura was influenced by the halo effect in her decision to promote Amanda?

A) Laura is known to micromanage most of her projects.
B) Laura uses cultural stereotyping in order to speed up the process of decision making.
C) Laura has made good hiring decisions in the past and is known to be an unbiased judge of character.
D) Laura sat in on only one of Amanda's presentations prior to giving her the promotion.
E) Laura worked closely with Amanda over a period of eight months.

Question 49

Rose Buffay needs to give a presentation to the board of directors of her organization next week. She knows that her presentation will play an important role in her performance appraisal in the next quarter. However, she knows that two of her colleagues, John Roy and Keith Mathews, will also be giving a presentation on the same issue. She is nervous because she believes that men have a better flair for giving presentations. Buffay's perception of Roy and Mathews is most likely characterized by ________.

A) halo effect
B) contrast effect
C) hindsight bias
D) stereotyping
E) confirmation bias

Question 50

Judging someone on the basis of one's perception of the group to which the person belongs is called ________.

A) confirmation bias
B) stereotyping
C) framing effect
D) self-serving bias
E) bandwagon effect

Question 51

________ refers to the 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.

A) Halo effect
B) Contrast effect
C) Confirmation bias
D) Stereotyping
E) Anchoring bias

Question 52

According to attribution theory, if a behavior scores high on consensus and distinctiveness, we tend to consider it as an internally caused behavior.

Question 53

A candidate is likely to receive a more favorable evaluation if preceded by mediocre applicants and a less favorable evaluation if preceded by strong applicants. This is an example of the halo effect.

Question 54

Which of the following terms refers to choices made from among two or more alternatives?

A) inquiry
B) decision
C) perception
D) intuition
E) rationalization

Question 55

A manager believes that he should not hire older workers because they can't learn new skills. This belief is an example of ________.

A) anchoring bias
B) fundamental attribution error
C) confirmation bias
D) self-serving bias
E) stereotyping

Question 56

________ refers to the tendency of people to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic.

A) Confirmation bias
B) Self-serving bias
C) Randomness error
D) Halo effect
E) Hindsight bias

Question 57

Harriet Kirby, a fundraising manager at a women's rights organization, experienced a bad incident last year with the public relations manager of a banking company who had committed to sponsor a charity event. The bank backed out at the last minute. This year, when a renowned international bank executive showed interest in sponsoring the organization's upcoming annual event, Kirby rejected their participation. She felt that banks have a casual approach toward charity events and it is risky to involve them in the event. Which of the following best characterizes Kirby's decision?

A) selective perception
B) cognitive dissonance
C) self-serving bias
D) bandwagon effect
E) self-fulfilling prophecy

Question 58

Which of the following is a shortcut used in judging others by making generalizations?

A) hindsight bias
B) randomness error
C) stereotyping
D) illusory superiority
E) telescoping effect

Question 59

Sarah Covington, a sales manager at Synergy Corporation Bank, often keeps low expectations of her team. She feels that they are underqualified for their job and do not have substantial experience to sell a large number of accounts. Covington's team does not feel motivated enough and invariably underperforms and misses targets on a regular basis. Which of the following concepts best explains Covington's team's poor performance?

A) hindsight bias
B) self-fulfilling prophecy
C) confirmation bias
D) contrast effect
E) bandwagon effect

Question 60

Jessica recently joined a new company and was first introduced to Michelle, her cubicle neighbor. Michelle came across as amiable and cheerful. During lunch she met another colleague, Carrie, who did not come across as friendly as Michelle. In this situation, Jessica's interpretation of Carrie's personality is most likely to be affected by ________.

A) confirmation bias
B) contrast effect
C) fundamental attribution error
D) self-serving bias
E) bandwagon effect

Question 61

________ refers to staying with a decision even when there is clear evidence it's wrong.

A) Escalation of commitment
B) Fundamental attribution error
C) Randomness error
D) Risk aversion
E) Availability bias

Question 62

With reference to decision making, which of the following does satisficing involve?

A) weighing each criteria before making a decision
B) seeking solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient
C) scrutinizing and evaluating each alternative in detail
D) selecting the best option with the highest utility
E) finding optimal solutions to problems

Question 63

The tendency to draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic is known as the contrast effect.

Question 64

What is selective perception?

Question 65

Which of the following is a decision-making model that describes how individuals should behave in order to maximize some outcome?

A) rational decision-making model
B) flexible decision-making model
C) distributive decision-making model
D) associative decision-making model
E) integrative decision-making model

Question 66

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behavior of others is known as the randomness error.

Question 67

The tendency for individuals to attribute their own successes to internal factors and put the blame for failures on external factors is known as confirmation bias.

Question 68

Which of the following statements is true regarding the rational decision-making model?

A) It takes into consideration the limited information-processing capability of individuals.
B) It involves constructing simplified models without capturing all their complexity.
C) It deals with satisficing decisions by seeking solutions that are satisfactory and sufficient.
D) It assumes that an individual is able to identify all relevant options in an unbiased manner.
E) It is an unconscious decision-making process created from distilled experience.

Question 69

Emily Boyce, a project manager at an insurance firm, regularly satisfices while making decisions. She often comes across complicated problems which would take a long time to resolve. Due to the pressing deadlines, she often meets project goals by satisficing a large number of her decisions. Which of the following is Boyce most likely to do?

A) seek complete information while making decisions
B) search for solutions that are reasonable
C) identify all possible options to solutions
D) analyze each alternative in an unbiased manner
E) choose the optimal solution to each problem

Question 70

According to attribution theory, the more consistent a behavior, the more we are inclined to attribute it to external causes.

Question 71

In an interview, information elicited early from an interviewee carries greater weight than information elicited later.

Question 72

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.

A) self-serving
B) availability
C) impact
D) distinction
E) hindsight

Question 73

Compare the fundamental attribution error and self-serving bias.

Question 74

Explain the relationship between decision making and perception.

Question 75

Discuss attribution theory.

Question 76

Anne Warner, a climate campaigner at an environmental organization, is in charge of implementing a campaign activity where she needs to increase the use of renewable energy in the villages of Vietnam. For her project, she uses the rational decision-making model to implement activities. She has just completed identifying an appropriate criteria for decision making and has allocated weights to the criteria. Which of the following is Warner most likely to undertake next according to the model?

A) develop options of wind, solar, and hydro energy
B) analyze the problems of the project
C) determine goals of the project
D) select hydro energy as the best option
E) weigh advantages between solar and wind energy

Question 77

The tendency to believe falsely, after an outcome of an event is actually known, that one would have accurately predicted that outcome is known as ________ bias.

A) self-serving
B) confirmation
C) impact
D) hindsight
E) anchoring

Question 78

Victoria Hastings works as a sales manager at a bank and her behavior is characterized by the fundamental attribution error and halo effect. Explain with the help of an example what Hastings' behavior is most likely to be toward her team in such a situation.

Question 79

What is the first step in the rational decision-making model?

A) developing alternatives
B) defining the problem
C) identifying the decision criteria
D) weighing the decision criteria
E) evaluating the alternatives

Question 80

A(n) ________ refers to a discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state.

A) problem
B) decision
C) instinct
D) intuition
E) perception