Deck 11: Reflective Decision Making

Question 1

One reason that our judicial system allows for appeals to higher courts is that the higher court is more likely ________.
(a) than the lower court to abide by the correct judicial procedures
(b) than the lower court to handle the appeal quickly
(c) to be embarrassed and to take offense that an appeal was made
(d) to be able to consider the appeal with an open-mind, not having made the initial decision

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What is dominance structuring?
(a) a computer program designed to help people make decisions when a situation is unclear
(b) a common fallacy that strong critical thinkers can recognize immediately
(c) a psychological process through which humans achieve confidence in their decisions
(d) a conversational encounter during which one person dominates the other person

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is most likely to occur when identifying one promising option during dominance structuring?
(a) reducing the number of options by the use of elimination by aspect and satisficing
(b) considering every reasonable option in an equal and thorough way
(c) comparing our promising alternative to the other options in terms of the set of decision-critical attributes
(d) adjusting the relative importance of the criteria until one option emerges as the obvious first choice
(e) finding one alternative that is more attractive than the others on at least one critically important attribute

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when fortifying the to-be-chosen option during decision making?
(a) making sure that the problem has been correctly identified
(b) looking at the pros and cons of various options impartially
(c) being sure not to omit any of the decision-critical criteria
(d) avoiding the tendency to combine two separate criteria

Question 5

Which of the following is most likely to occur when testing the promising option during dominance structuring?
(a) reducing the number of options by the use of elimination by aspect and satisficing
(b) considering every reasonable option in an equal and thorough way
(c) comparing our promising alternative to the other options in terms of the set of decision-critical attributes
(d) adjusting the relative importance of the criteria until one option emerges as the obvious first choice
(e) finding one alternative that is more attractive than the others on at least one critically important attribute

Question 6

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when during the pre-editing phase of decision making?
(a) making sure that the problem has been correctly identified
(b) looking at the pros and cons of various options impartially
(c) being sure not to omit any of the decision-critical criteria
(d) avoiding the tendency to combine two separate criteria

Question 7

Which of the following is most likely to occur during the pre-editing phase of dominance structuring?
(a) reducing the number of options by the use of elimination by aspect and satisficing
(b) considering every reasonable option in an equal and thorough way
(c) comparing our promising alternative to the other options in terms of the set of decision-critical attributes
(d) adjusting the relative importance of the criteria until one option emerges as the obvious first choice
(e) finding one alternative that is more attractive than the others on at least one critically important attribute

Question 8

Mike wants to make a well-reasoned decision about which movie to watch with his 8-year-old son. He has thousands of options in the online movie database. First, he quickly eliminates movies that feature horror, violence, and offensive language. Which of the following steps is he most likely to take next?
(a) He will exaggerate to his son the wonderfulness of the movie he has picked.
(b) He will select the first movie he finds that is labeled as "suited for family viewing."
(c) He will decide to consider movies with sexually explicit scenes.
(d) He will identify the positive attributes he plans to look for in the remaining options.

Question 9

Two interviewers sit down for a discussion to finalize the candidate to hire. Each of them nominates a different candidate as their "to-be-chosen" option. The discussion turns into a heated debate while they are comparing the two candidates. Which of the following issues is most likely to have led to the disagreement?
(a) The interviewers agree that volunteer experience should not be a decision-critical attribute.
(b) Neither candidate was eliminated in the pre-editing phase.
(c) Although both were qualified, one candidate was more likable than the other candidate.
(d) Both interviewers locked in prematurely on a different favored candidate.

Question 10

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when testing the promising option against the other reasonable choices during decision making?
(a) making sure that the problem has been correctly identified
(b) looking at the pros and cons of various options impartially
(c) being sure not to omit any of the decision-critical criteria
(d) avoiding the tendency to combine two separate criteria

Question 11

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when identifying the promising option during decision making?
(a) making an honest effort to see the virtues of all the reasonable options
(b) give due consideration to ideas that may go against one's preconceptions
(c) listen open-mindedly to both sides before eliminating a reasonable option
(d) specify what is going to be important as the criteria for making the final decision

Question 12

What is one of the risks of dominance structuring?
(a) locking in prematurely to an unwise decision
(b) frequent wishy-washy changing one's mind
(c) relying on computer decision algorithms to take the guess work out of decision making
(d) becoming confident that our decision was the right decision in the circumstances

Question 13

What are decision-critical attributes?
(a) personal traits that enable humans to explain and analyze ideas
(b) criteria the decision maker deems important and relevant for evaluating options
(c) guidelines given by experts that help a person become a better critical thinker
(d) steps to follow that enable one to evaluate and criticize mistaken decisions

Question 14

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when identifying the promising option during decision making?
(a) making sure that the problem has been correctly identified
(b) looking at the pros and cons of various options impartially
(c) being sure not to omit any of the decision-critical criteria
(d) avoiding the tendency to combine two separate criteria

Question 15

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when testing the promising option against the other reasonable choices during decision making?
(a) making an honest effort to see the virtues of all the reasonable options
(b) give due consideration to ideas that may go against one's preconceptions
(c) listen open-mindedly to both sides before eliminating a reasonable option
(d) specify what is going to be important as the criteria for making the final decision

Question 16

Which of the following is most likely not to occur during the human decision-making process?
(a) reducing the number of options by the use of elimination by aspect and satisficing
(b) considering every reasonable option in an equal and thorough way
(c) comparing our promising alternative to the other options in terms of the set of decision-critical attributes
(d) adjusting the relative importance of the criteria until one option emerges as the obvious first choice
(e) finding one alternative that is more attractive than the others on at least one critically important attribute

Question 17

A furniture manufacturer is looking for a showroom. A committee decides that the new showroom should be close to their warehouse, have a loading dock for delivery trucks, and should have at least 5000 square feet of floor space. They would also like to move into a showroom that has skylights and glass partitions, but they do not consider these to be mandatory criteria. Based on these criteria, they shortlist the options that met all of the essential criteria. Although its report is due soon, the committee just realized that having a concrete floor was one essential criterion they had omitted. What is the most reasonable next step for the committee?
(a) It should compare the options it has against one another to see which is most promising.
(b) It should eliminate any current options that do not have concrete floors.
(c) It should realize that the loading dock is more important than the amount of floor space.
(d) It should start the search over with this new criterion in mind.
(e) It should move on; the concrete floor was not in the original list of essentials.

Question 18

Which of the following precautions is most relevant when fortifying the to-be-chosen option during decision making?
(a) making an honest effort to see the virtues of all the reasonable options
(b) give due consideration to ideas that may go against one's preconceptions
(c) listen open-mindedly to both sides before eliminating a reasonable option
(d) specify what is going to be important as the criteria for making the final decision

Question 19

Which of the following is most likely to occur when fortifying the to-be-chosen option during dominance structuring?
(a) reducing the number of options by the use of elimination by aspect and satisficing.
(b) considering every reasonable option in an equal and thorough way
(c) comparing our promising alternative to the other options in terms of the set of decision-critical attributes
(d) adjusting the relative importance of the criteria until one option emerges as the obvious first choice
(e) finding one alternative that is more attractive than the others on at least one critically important attribute

Question 20

Which of the following precautions is most relevant during the pre-editing phase of decision making?
(a) making an honest effort to see the virtues of all the reasonable options
(b) give due consideration to ideas that may go against one's preconceptions
(c) listen open-mindedly to both sides before eliminating a reasonable option
(d) specify what is going to be important as the criteria for making the final decision

Question 21

Describe the frame of mind required to achieve objectivity in decision making.

Question 22

Mark has been asked to recommend one of his colleagues for promotion based on their performance in a recent project. Having met with all the candidates and remained as objective and impartial as possible during those sessions, Mark came away from those with a preference for candidate X. His natural tendency now is to compare X to the other candidates to verify that X is at least as good as they are on all the key criteria. Mark is now in the ________ phase of dominance structuring.

Question 23

Dominance structuring is a natural psychological process that is particularly valuable in times of uncertainty when action is required.

Question 24

Adam is good at monitoring his decisions and revising them when he realizes that he has made a mistake. It would be reasonable to say that Adam has strength in the critical thinking skill of _________________.

Question 25

Kate is casting people for a documentary drama that she is directing. Alyssa has emerged as the strongest candidate for the leading role. Kate believes that Alyssa has many advantages as compared to the other possible choices, and not obvious liabilities, except for one. Alyssa has never acted in a film before, all of her previous work has been on stage in live theater. As Kate is thinking about this she is wondering just how important prior experience in film really is. Kate is in the __________________ phase of dominance structuring.

Question 26

What are the cognitive risks involved in searching for dominance?

Question 27

Describe the more or less rational psychological process that occurs when the decision maker is restructuring his or her appraisal of the various options so that the to-be-chosen option will emerge as the dominant one.

Question 28

Describe at least three critical thinking strategies that can be applied to improve individual and group decision-making processes.

Question 29

Explain the key similarities between the precautions one should take when identifying the promising option.

Question 30

In dominance structuring, the "to-be-chosen" option is the same as the promising option provided that _______________.

Question 31

Explain the problems that are likely to be faced in trading off criteria during the process of fortifying an option.

Question 32

Explain the rationale for tasking two independent teams work on the same problem.

Question 33

Explain how self-regulation is used to monitor premature dominance structuring around a lesser option.

Question 34

People give full and equal consideration to the reasonable options during the pre-editing phase of dominance structuring.

Question 35

Describe the risks and the benefits of the natural human process of dominance structuring?

Question 36

Humans assess their options in the light of the decision-critical attributes during the ___________ phase of the search for dominance.

Question 37

Humans tend to select the best option by trading off, collapsing, and bolstering the decision-critical attributes.

Question 38

Haley, a CEO of a new tech company, prioritizes the need to support high quality reflective decision making in her organization. Like her, almost all of her employees are young and eager. Describe some actions that will help her achieve that goal.

Question 39

Are there any evolutionarily advantageous consequences for our species, given that human dominance structuring is a natural phenomenon?

Question 40

Explain how a promising option is tested in the third phase of the search for a dominant option.