It is human nature to filter the information that enters our brains. Often times it is a common oversight to miss important details that are readily available. Another pitfall is paying too much attention to irrelevant information. Chapter 4 of Bazerman and Moore’s Book (2013), Judgement in Managerial Decision Making, explains that “people have bounded awareness that prevents them from noticing or focusing on useful, observable, and relevant data. Our minds are constantly making choices about what to pay attention to and what to ignore, but our information filters make some predictable mistakes” (p. 63). To make more effective decisions a concerted effort needs to be made not to limit the analysis of the information in front of you, …show more content…
You can be looking right at something and somehow you do not see it. This causes us to completely overlook something that is in our line of vision, often times because focus is on something else. A big problem in today’s society is the bounded awareness caused by using cell phones while driving. This form of inattentional blindness is a big contributor to car accidents. Another visual form of bounded awareness is change blindness. Change blindness cause us to ignore obvious changes going on around us, often times at a cost. These assumptions can result in gradual unethical pitfalls, which are more acceptable and practically unnoticed in small doses. To counter act this form of bounded awareness, Bazerman and Moore suggest to “use the confirmation heuristic to our advantage. If we begin with the self-critical assumption that we are prone to ethical lapses, and actively searching to find them, we will be attuned to cues suggesting that our ethical standards may have slipped” (p. 67 ). It is important to recognize these shortcomings in order to avoid the consequences of hurried, misinformed, …show more content…
Focalism is our inclination to place emphasis on a certain event and a lack of emphasis on others. This attention to a “focal event” causes us to draw conclusions with just a small portion of information. This brings to mind riddles I have heard that appear to have simple answers, but are very easy to get wrong. For example; Larry’s father has five sons named Ten, Twenty, Thirty, Forty…Guess what would be the name of the fifth? Many would be inclined to continue following the pattern, and answer that the fifth son was named fifty. The correct answer is Larry! The detail in the beginning of the riddle “Larry’s father has five sons” is often overlooked and the focus is placed on the pattern of names. An effective way to counteract this is to make a more careful analysis of the question; reach outside the boundaries to come to a more fact driven analysis. Another form of focalism is affective forecasting, in which we predict how we will feel in the future based on our current emotional state. People use this form of forecasting to make many important decisions such as who to marry. The focus is on being in love and the fairytale wedding, and all of the other factors that are necessary for a successful marriage are ignored. Unfortunately this form of forecasting often leads to errors in decision making, hence the 50% rate of
All through out history, we have had many situations that may have had good intentions but in reality would have bad consequences. Some people might think they are doing the right thing but in reality they might just be making the situation worse. For instance, we see it in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”, Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, and today with “Vaping” also know as the use of an electronic cigarette.
My attention to detail drives my approach for considering all the details when analyzing a situation. That being said, these strengths are also my weaknesses. At times, my decision-making processes are more time consuming than ideal and I can get bogged down by the details such that I lose sight of the larger scope. Additionally, I serve as a link between the internal and external teams and must balance their respective needs, which may be conflicting at times. Therefore, I must fortify my strategic planning and communication skills such that it can apply to a variety of key players.
A man is running late to work one day when he passes by a homeless person asking for help. This man and many others usually consider this particular man to be generous, but since he is late, he ignores the homeless person and continues on his way. One can assume that if he had the time, he would have helped. Does that matter, though, seeing as in that situation, he did not in fact help? Scenarios like this supports Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett’s idea that it is the situation that influences a person’s behavior, not he or she’s individual conscience. Although a person’s individual conscience could play a part in how one behaves in a given scenario, ultimately, the “situational variable” has more impact on the actions of the person than he or she’s morals.
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
ABSTRACT: The aim of this paper is to defend a broad concept of visual perception, according to which it is a sufficient condition for visual perception that subjects receive visual information in a way which enables them to give reliably correct answers about the objects presented to them. According to this view, blindsight, non-epistemic seeing, and conscious visual experience count as proper types of visual perception. This leads to two consequences concerning the role of the phenomenal qualities of visual experiences. First, phenomenal qualities are not necessary in order to see something, because in the case of blindsight, subjects can see objects without experiences phenomenal qualities. Second, they cannot be intentional properties, since they are not essential properties of visual experiences, and because the content of visual experiences cannot be constituted by contingent properties.
In her 1992 paper, “Male Aggression Against Women: An Evolutionary Perspective”, Smuts addresses four unique components, to examine the evolutionary assumption that male aggression against females occurs to optimize male reproductive success. Firstly, Smuts (1992) explores female resistance to such behavior in nonhuman primates, which she elucidates as a male reproductive strategy to control female sexuality. Secondly, several case studies of nonhuman primates are examined to formulate hypotheses explaining the role of male aggression in the evolution of human pair bonds (Smuts, 1992). Thirdly, Smuts (1992) uses her analysis of nonhuman primates to explain the cross-cultural variation in male aggression via proposing five hypotheses. Lastly,
Each one of us lives in our own unique world of perception. As individuals, we may experience life in an entirely different way through our senses and life experiences. Therefore, perception can be tricky since it is very personal to each one of us. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, perception has three meanings; (1) “the way you think about or understand someone or something,” (2) “the ability to understand or notice something easily,” and, (3) “the way that you notice or understand something using one of your senses” (2014, para. 1). C.S. Lewis said, “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are” (n.d., para. 11). In other words,
However, if there is too much information to navigate through the decision maker may suffer from analysis paralysis, thereby distorting the
Evidence is starting to arise that our need to uphold moral values is unconscious and rationalized in a post-hoc fashion. A long line of evidence suggests that conflict of interest between our self-interest and the interest of others leads to biased decision-making despite the best intentions of people not to be biased by their self-interest. One proposed solution to resolving conflicts of interest is to disclose these conflicts. However, research actually suggests that this may not be an effective strategy since the evidence suggests that people actually behave more unethically after disclosing a conflict of interest.
I personally believe that to acquire more accurate information, it is important to
Automotive ethics is a subject that is often over looked. Not many people tend to look at what is ethical in the automotive industry; most people are generally satisfied if they can get a good deal on a car. However, in reality, automotive ethics has an affect on how automobiles are made, what regulations the government puts on them, and their hazard on the environment. Before the engine was invented, life revolved around a much more complicated system of transportation. Much advancement in technology has been made to make the common lifestyle today much easier; a few examples are cellular telephones and onboard navigation systems in automobiles. Cellular telephones and navigation systems have become an everyday item, but nobody looks at the dangers that can have while operating a motor vehicle.
Many people believe they have to try to stay on top of information because of economic, social, and employment-related pressures.
People are often blinded by the situation in which they are in, and by their personal motives which drive them to act. Humans, by nature, have faults and vices that are potentially harmful. It is the responsibility of society to anticipate harm, whether to oneself or to others. Once dangerous patterns and habits are recognized, it is imperative to anticipate and prevent injury from reoccurring. To allow any individual to be inflicted harm forces citizens to lose trust in the government, thus unraveling the fabric of society.... ...
Decision Making Insights. I will be most successful when I have all the information necessary for decision-making, as my dominant cognitive styles are planning and knowing. This approach does not leave room for ambiguity and stifles flexibility and creativity. Consequently, I thrive in established organizations that value hierarchy, procedures, and open communication, because they assist my natural cognitive processes. (Pearson Education, 2016)
For less significant decisions that have little impact, people might not invoke the higher thinking skills that theorists expect (Decision-Making 2015). Flipping a coin, hoping for a miraculous sign, following the crowd, or by passing the responsibility to someone else are all means of making decisions. For more important decisions with greater impact, people often employ more advanced thought processes like those demonstrated in decision-making models by social psychologists and behaviorists. Most theories accept the idea that decision-making consists of a number of steps or stages such as improving creativity, critical thinking skills, and problem solving techniques. It is well recognized that routine cognitive processes such as memory, reasoning, and concept formation play a primary role in decision-making (Decision-Making 2015).