Question 1

For each question, indicate which heuristic it describes:
-After reading about the positive effect chocolate has on student performance,a teacher gives each student in a class a chocolate bar before taking an exam.15 out of 22 students in that class get an A on the exam.The teacher therefore concludes that chocolate enhances performance.
A)The representativeness heuristic.
B)The availability heuristic.
C)The confirmation heuristic.
D)The affect heuristic.

Accepted Answer

The scenario describes the confirmation heuristic, where the teacher looks for evidence that confirms their pre-existing belief (that chocolate enhances performance) and potentially ignores other factors that could have contributed to the students' success.

Question 2

An optimal search for alternatives should last:
A)As long as needed to find the best solution.
B)As long as needed to find the first good enough solution.
C)As long as the cost of the search does not outweigh the value of the added information.
D)As long as the cost of the search is within the appropriate limits set by the decision maker.

Accepted Answer

The optimal search for alternatives should continue until the cost of the search outweighs the value of the added information. This means that once the cost of the search starts becoming too high, it might not be worth it to continue searching for a better solution. It's essential to balance the benefits of finding a better alternative with the cost of continuing the search. Therefore, Choice C is the correct answer.

Question 3

The main disadvantage of system 2 thinking is its high resource consumption.

Accepted Answer

System 2 thinking involves the use of mental effort and resources, such as attention and cognitive capacity, which can be exhausting and time-consuming. This can be a disadvantage in situations where quick decision-making is needed or when the individual is under stress or fatigue.

Question 4

Which of the following is a typical characteristic of heuristics? 
A)They provide us with a simple way of dealing with complex problems.
B)They have the best likelihood of reaching an optimal solution to a problem.
C)They are time and resource consuming.
D)They are used mainly by irrational decision makers.

Accepted Answer

Heuristics are shortcuts or rules of thumb that provide a simple way of dealing with complex problems. They may not always lead to the best solution, but they are often useful in real-life decision-making situations where time and resources are limited. Heuristics are not limited to irrational decision-makers; everyone uses heuristics to some extent in their decision-making processes.

Question 5

The affect heuristic can explain why
A)People who live in California are assumed to be happier than people who live in the Midwest.
B)Students predict they will be sadder after getting a bad grade on a test than they actually are in these situations.
C)People do not remember sad events from their early childhood.
D)Stock prices go up on sunny days.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The affect heuristic can explain why
A)People who...

Question 6

Rating alternatives on each of the decision criteria is considered the most difficult stage of the decision-making process,because:
A)It assumes we have precisely defined our priorities.
B)It requires us to forecast how each alternative solution will achieve each of our decision criteria.
C)It requires us to compare all of the alternatives simultaneously.
D)It is likely to fail if our problem is not defined correctly,and this failure will not be detected.

Accepted Answer

Rating alternatives on each of the decision criteria requires us to forecast how each alternative solution will achieve each of our decision criteria, which can be challenging and require some guesswork. Additionally, we need to ensure that we have precisely defined our priorities before we can effectively rate each alternative. However, it is not necessarily true that we need to compare all alternatives simultaneously, and the process can still be successful even if our problem is not defined correctly (although this can certainly lead to suboptimal outcomes).

Question 7

In the interplay between system 1 and system 2 thinking,the key goal for managers is:
A)To improve their use of system 1 thinking.
B)To attempt to use system 2 thinking as much as possible.
C)To apply both systems in making decisions in order to perform a more thorough and complex search for alternatives.
D)To identify when they should move from system 1 to system 2 thinking.

Accepted Answer

The key goal for managers in the interplay between system 1 and system 2 thinking is to identify when they should move from system 1 to system 2 thinking. While it's important to have a balance between the two systems, it's crucial for managers to know when to slow down, deliberate, and use system 2 thinking to make better decisions.

Question 8

A search for alternatives may be too short to find the best possible alternative,but still be considered rational and optimal.

Accepted Answer

Even though a search for alternatives may not result in finding the best possible alternative, it is still a rational and optimal decision-making process as it allows for a thorough exploration of available options and weighing their pros and cons before making a decision.

Question 9

For each question, indicate which heuristic it describes:
-John is over seven feet tall.When asked whether John is a professional basketball player or a software programmer,many people predict the former,even though there are many more software programmers,even very tall ones,than professional basketball players.
A)The representativeness heuristic.
B)The availability heuristic.
C)The confirmation heuristic.
D)The affect heuristic.

Accepted Answer

The representativeness heuristic is being used because people are making a decision based on how well John fits their stereotype of a professional basketball player (i.e. tall and athletic) rather than considering the statistics of how many basketball players versus software programmers there are.

Question 10

Succumbing to heuristics is inevitable,and there is no way to make judgment less prone them.Rather,one can only be aware of the biasing effect heuristics have on one's judgment.

Accepted Answer

While it's true that heuristics can influence judgment, various strategies, such as increasing awareness, critical thinking, seeking diverse perspectives, and using decision-making frameworks, can help reduce their biasing effects and improve judgment quality.

Question 11

Which of the two cognitive systems (System 1 and System 2)is most often used,and in what kinds of decision is it typically used?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the two cognitive systems (System...

Question 12

For each question, indicate which heuristic it describes:
-A common wisdom in politics is that the more an argument is repeated,the more it will be considered by the public as reliable and true.
A)The representativeness heuristic.
B)The availability heuristic.
C)The confirmation heuristic.
D)The affect heuristic.

Accepted Answer

This describes the availability heuristic, which is the tendency to rely on easily accessible information or examples when making a decision or judgment. In this case, the repetition of the argument makes it more easily accessible and therefore more likely to be perceived as true or reliable.

Question 13

This book takes a descriptive,rather than a prescriptive approach,to studying decision making,meaning that it provides ways to understand actual human decision making,but does not provide tools for improving one's decision processes.

Accepted Answer

The answer of This book takes a descriptive,rather than a...

Question 14

For each question, indicate which heuristic it describes:
-Inner city crime in the U.S.gets considerable media coverage,such that every homicide is reported in the news.In contrast,a story of a person who died from a heart attack rarely makes the news.This leads people to overestimate the frequency of deaths due to homicides relative to those due to heart failure.
A)The representativeness heuristic.
B)The availability heuristic.
C)The confirmation heuristic.
D)The affect heuristic.

Accepted Answer

This describes the availability heuristic, where people rely on the ease of retrieving information in their memory to make judgments about frequency or likelihood. The media coverage of homicides makes them more readily available in people's minds, leading to an overestimation of their frequency compared to heart failure deaths.

Quiz 1: Introduction to Managerial Decision Making

An optimal search for alternatives should last:

The main disadvantage of system 2 thinking is its high resource consumption.

Which of the following is a typical characteristic of heuristics?

The affect heuristic can explain why

Rating alternatives on each of the decision criteria is considered the most difficult stage of the decision-making process,because:

In the interplay between system 1 and system 2 thinking,the key goal for managers is:

A search for alternatives may be too short to find the best possible alternative,but still be considered rational and optimal.

Succumbing to heuristics is inevitable,and there is no way to make judgment less prone them.Rather,one can only be aware of the biasing effect heuristics have on one's judgment.

Which of the two cognitive systems (System 1 and System 2)is most often used,and in what kinds of decision is it typically used?

For each question, indicate which heuristic it describes: -A common wisdom in politics is that the more an argument is repeated,the more it will be considered by the public as reliable and true.

This book takes a descriptive,rather than a prescriptive approach,to studying decision making,meaning that it provides ways to understand actual human decision making,but does not provide tools for improving one's decision processes.