Deck 6: Perception and Individual Decision Making

Question 1

If two people see the same thing at the same time yet interpret it differently,the factors that operate to shape their dissimilar perceptions reside in the:

A)context of the situation in which the perception is made
B)target being perceived
C)timing
D)perceiver

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Elements in the surrounding environment are ignored in our perceptions.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The time at which an object or event is seen is an example of the ________ that influences the perceptual process.

A)context
B)target
C)perceiver
D)reality

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The determination of whether an individual's behaviour is externally or internally caused depends on all of the following factors except:

A)consistency
B)consensus
C)perception
D)distinctiveness

Question 5

Which one of the following is not a factor that influences perception?

A)target
B)perceiver
C)situation
D)society

Question 6

Factors in the perceiver that influence perception include:

A)experiences
B)interests
C)expectations
D)all of the above

Question 7

Outline the factors that influence perception.

Question 8

Define the concept of perception and why it is important in the study of OB.

Question 9

Which of the following is not true about our perceptions of a target?

A)Motion,sounds,size,and other attributes of a target shape the way we see it.
B)Targets are usually looked at in isolation.
C)The relationship of a target to its background influences perception.
D)Similar things tend to be grouped together.

Question 10

Personal characteristics of the individual perceiver include all of the following except:

A)location
B)personality
C)expectations
D)his/her attitudes

Question 11

An individual's expectations have little or no effect on perception.

Question 12

Time is a factor which affects perception.This factor refers to the perceiver.

Question 13

What one perceives ________ objective reality.

A)is always the same as
B)should be the same as
C)can be substantially different from
D)is considered

Question 14

When an individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees,that interpretation is heavily influenced by personal characteristics of the individual perceiver.

Question 15

A process by which individuals organise and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment is called:

A)outlook
B)interpretation
C)environmental analysis
D)perception

Question 16

________ suggests that when individuals observe behaviour,we attempt to determine whether it is internally or externally caused.

A)Self-serving bias
B)Attribution theory
C)Fundamental attribution error
D)Selective behaviour theory

Question 17

Why do we make judgements about people?

A)we tend to stereotype
B)we make assumptions about their internal state
C)as a result of justice theories
D)we engage in organisational behaviour

Question 18

The theory that has been developed to explain why we judge people differently depending on what meaning we assign to their behaviour in response to internal or external causality is known as:

A)attribution theory
B)judgmental theory
C)behavioural theory
D)equity theory

Question 19

Individuals can be involved in the same situation but perceive that situation very differently.

Question 20

Perception refers to the way we organise and interpret the world around us.

Question 21

If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds in the same way,attribution theory states that the behaviour shows:

A)reliability
B)consensus
C)similarity
D)consistency

Question 22

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

A)An employee was late because he was partying late and then overslept.
B)An employee was promoted because he was intelligent.
C)An employee was fired because he did not possess the necessary skills.
D)An employee was late because of a major accident that tied up traffic.

Question 23

Janice is late for work each day by about 10 minutes.This behaviour exhibits:

A)consistency
B)consensus
C)reliability
D)similarity

Question 24

When investors bragged about their investing expertise during the stock market rally between 1996 and early-2000,then blamed analysts,brokers,and the Federal Reserve when the market imploded in 2000,they were guilty of:

A)fundamental attribution error
B)consensus
C)self-serving bias
D)distinctiveness

Question 25

Which of the following is not true about attribution theory?

A)Behaviour can be attributed to one's heredity.
B)The cause of behaviour may be internal.
C)The cause of behaviour may be external.
D)It tries to attribute causes to specific behaviours.

Question 26

Whether an individual displays different behaviours in different situations is referred to as:

A)distinctiveness
B)integrity
C)continuity
D)flexibility

Question 27

Giving an attribution an external causation means you assume that the individual is responsible for his or her own behaviour.

Question 28

Internally caused behaviours are those:

A)that are believed to be under the personal control of the individual
B)resulting from outside causes
C)forced upon a person by the situation
D)resulting from personality traits

Question 29

In attribution theory,"consensus" refers to whether an individual responds the same way over time.

Question 30

Jane is difficult to work with.Whenever she is successful she takes full credit for what has happened,but whenever she is unsuccessful she attributes her failure to bad luck or to one of her fellow employees.She is guilty of:

A)consensus
B)fundamental attribution error
C)self-serving bias
D)distinctiveness

Question 31

The tendency of an individual to attribute his own successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors is:

A)selective perception
B)self-serving bias
C)fundamental attribution error
D)consistency

Question 32

The more consistent the behaviour,the more the observer is inclined to attribute it to internal causes.

Question 33

In attribution theory,"distinctiveness" refers to whether an individual displays different behaviours in different situations.

Question 34

Internally caused behaviours are those that are believed to be under the personal control of the individual.

Question 35

Attribution theory looks at the internal or external causes of behaviour.

Question 36

The more consistent a behaviour,the more the observer is inclined to:

A)attribute it to internal causes
B)attribute it to external causes
C)attribute it to consensus
D)depend on the behaviour

Question 37

The tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors and overestimate the influence of internal factors when making judgments about the behaviour of others is termed:

A)self-serving bias
B)selective perception
C)consistency
D)fundamental attribution error

Question 38

If a person responds the same way over time,attribution theory states that the behaviour shows:

A)continuity
B)consistency
C)distinctiveness
D)consensus

Question 39

Your boss never gives you the benefit of the doubt.When you were late this morning,he assumed that you had overslept.He never considered that there might have been a delay on the freeway.He is guilty of:

A)inconsistency
B)selective perception
C)fundamental attribution error
D)self-serving bias

Question 40

Perception varies by culture.Which of the following is a FALSE statement on this issue?

A)Asians are more likely to commit fundamental attribution error.
B)Asians appear to focus more on the context and environment that the person.
C)Culture affects what we remember.
D)None of the above.

Question 41

Another name for self-fulfilling prophecy is:

A)Pygmalion effect
B)Negative reinforcement
C)Projection
D)Self-selecting bias

Question 42

Sayings such as,'Women won't relocate for a promotion','Men aren't interested in child care','Older workers can't learn new skills','Asian immigrants are hardworking and conscientious' and 'Overweight people lack discipline' are examples of which type of judging shortcut?

A)halo effect
B)stereotyping
C)contrast effect
D)projection

Question 43

________ is the tendency to attribute one's own characteristics to other people.

A)Selection
B)Projection
C)Interpretation
D)Stereotyping

Question 44

The self-serving bias explains why a sales manager is prone to attribute the poor performance of her sales agents to laziness rather than to the innovative product line introduced by a competitor.

Question 45

The selective perception occurs because it is impossible for us to assimilate everything we see.

Question 46

Which of the following is a FALSE statement about performance evaluation?

A)Subjective measures may be affected by judging shortcuts.
B)Performance ratings are not influenced by the evaluator.
C)They are often subjective,however this can be problematic.
D)An employee's future is closely tied to performance evaluations.

Question 47

Selective perception allows us to "speed-read" others.

Question 48

________ is the tendency to draw a general impression about an individual based on a single characteristic such as intelligence,sociability,or appearance.

A)Prejudice
B)Misjudgment
C)Personal bias
D)The halo effect

Question 49

What are the three factors of Attribution Theory and how do they influence perception and judgment?

Question 50

One of the shortcuts used to judge others involves being influenced by other persons we recently encountered.This is known as:

A)selective perception
B)prejudice
C)halo effect
D)contrast effects

Question 51

________ allows us to "speed-read" others,but not without the risk of drawing an inaccurate picture.

A)Memorisation
B)Periodic listening
C)Mental desensitisation
D)Selective perception

Question 52

Asians are less likely to commit the fundamental attribution error.

Question 53

Since attribution theory was developed largely based on experiments
with US and Western European workers,one should use caution in making attribution theory predictions in non-Western societies,especially in countries with strong collectivist traditions.

Question 54

Because it is impossible for us to assimilate everything we see,we engage in:

A)memorisation
B)mental desensitisation
C)selective perception
D)periodic listening

Question 55

The tendency for individuals to attribute their successes to internal factors while putting the blame for failures on external factors is known as the fundamental attribution error.

Question 56

If Andrew inaccurately perceives Lee and the resulting expectations cause Lee to behave in ways consistent with Andrew's original perception,________ has occurred.

A)a self-serving bias
B)the fundamental attribution error
C)a self-fulfilling prophecy
D)stereotyping

Question 57

Interviewers make perceptual judgments that:

A)are not quickly entrenched
B)are exceptionally accurate
C)usually agree with other interviewers
D)are often inaccurate

Question 58

Shortcuts in judging others include all of the following except:

A)self-serving bias
B)halo effect
C)stereotyping
D)projection

Question 59

Contrast the fundamental attribution error and the self-serving bias.

Question 60

When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the group to which he/she belongs,we are using the shortcut called:

A)grouping
B)assimilating
C)stereotyping
D)categorising

Question 61

When a manager expects only minimal performance from his workers,there is the possibility that the workers will meet those low expectations.This is known as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 62

In the following steps in rational decision making,which step would come first?

A)allocate weights to criteria
B)develop alternatives
C)identify decision criteria
D)evaluate alternatives

Question 63

Decision making occurs as a reaction to a problem.

Question 64

What role does perception make in individual decision making?

Question 65

Which is not one of the steps in the rational decision-making model?

A)identifying the decision criteria
B)computing the decisions that satisfice
C)evaluating the alternatives
D)defining the problem

Question 66

Negative information exposed early in an interview tends to be more heavily weighted than if the same information were conveyed later.

Question 67

Discuss some of the errors in perceptual judgment made by interviewers.

Question 68

One person's problem is another person's satisfactory state of affairs.

Question 69

An individual's place in the interview schedule may affect the interviewer's evaluation of the applicant.This example illustrates the halo effect.

Question 70

________ make decisions in organisations.

A)Non-managerial employees
B)Middle and lower level managers
C)Top managers
D)all of the above

Question 71

Interviewers can make perceptual judgments that are often inaccurate during an employment interview.

Question 72

Awareness that a problem exists and whether a decision needs to be made is a perceptual issue.

Question 73

Rational decision making is characterised by making value-maximising choices which:

A)require maturity
B)require high intelligence
C)have limited choices
D)are consistent

Question 74

The judgment of the evaluator plays an important role in subjective criteria used to do performance evaluations.

Question 75

Making decisions is not the sole province of managers.

Question 76

The teacher was told that her students have been selected for her class because they are the most intelligent in their grade.She finds that these students consistently perform above average work.This may be an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Question 77

Another name for the self-serving bias is the Pygmalion effect.

Question 78

Decision making occurs as a reaction to a:

A)perceptual distortion
B)problem
C)conflict
D)solution

Question 79

A discrepancy between the current state of affairs and some desired state is known as:

A)a perceptual distortion
B)a problem
C)a conflict
D)dissonance

Question 80

What is the self-fulfilling prophecy?