Deck 9: Defective Group Decision Making and Problem Solving

Question 1

When groups become more risk-taking or cautious after discussion has occurred than the initial preferences of group members would indicate, this is called group

A) synergy.
B) cohesiveness.
C) productivity.
D) polarization.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

You want to prevent groupthink from becoming a problem in your group. To do this you should

A) increase the group members' sense of invulnerability to disaster.
B) increase status differences among group members.
C) seek information that supports an emerging agreement among members.
D) develop a norm in the group that legitimizes disagreement.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

You're the leader of the Interstellar Dark Beer Drinking Doomsday cult. You predict that the world will end when consumption of dark beer declines by 5% or more in a year. Consumption declines 7%, but the world does not end. When this fact is pointed out to you, your response is, "Members of the IDBDD drank mass quantities of dark beer, so they saved the world from extinction, proving the validity of my teachings." This is an example of

A) confirmation bias.
B) false dichotomy.
C) rationalization of disconfirmation.
D) groupthink.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Groupthink is a process whereby

A) group members get together and think up solutions to problems.
B) excessive cohesiveness discourages dissent in the group.
C) group members fear that the decisions made by the group will produce disastrous results.
D) group members exhibit serious concerns about the morality of their decisions.

Question 5

Potentially, the group's best means of coping effectively with information overload is

A) multitasking.
B) expanding the search for only relevant information.
C) discerning patterns to identify irrelevant information.
D) shutting off all electronic technology for a month.

Question 6

Rationalization of disconfirmation means

A) we invent superficial alternative explanations for information that confirms our beliefs.
B) we invent superficial alternative explanations for information that disconfirms our beliefs.
C) we have a psychological predisposition to seek information that confirms our beliefs.
D) None of the above

Question 7

Collective inferential error is a group's tendency to

A) make inferences when engaging in decision making and problem solving.
B) resist making inferences during group discussion.
C) make inferences based on too much information.
D) make inferences based on very limited and faulty information.

Question 8

Inferences

A) should be avoided during group discussion.
B) are generalizations about the known based on the unknown.
C) are uneducated guesses.
D) are generalizations about the unknown based on the known.

Question 9

Several group members believe in the power of Therapeutic Touch. They see a program on the Discovery channel that shows examples of TT in action. They are now even more convinced than ever that TT heals people. Another program on PBS, however, announces that it will show TT is a fraudulent, worthless therapy. Group members refuse to watch this program because it casts doubt on their belief in TT. This is an example of

A) rationalization of disconfirmation.
B) false dichotomy.
C) group polarization.
D) confirmation bias.

Question 10

A correlation is

A) a consistent relationship between two variables.
B) an inconsistent relationship between two variables.
C) a generalization about what is unknown based on what is known.
D) a psychological predisposition to seek information that agrees with our point of view.

Question 11

Dialectical inquiry is

A) one method of preventing groupthink.
B) a process in which a single group member challenges an emerging agreement on a controversial issue.
C) a process in which one member raises questions in a nonaggressive manner regarding potential problems such as false dichotomies and confirmation bias.
D) None of the above

Question 12

Group discussion promotes higher quality decision making when

A) the validity of inferences is carefully examined.
B) inferences are grounded in valid information.
C) at least one member of the group exerts influence to guide the group toward higher quality decisions.
D) All of the above

Question 13

A friend of yours has joined a controversial doomsday group headed by an individual who claims to be a prophet with divine powers. The head of this group predicts that the world will end on Christmas Eve. When this prophecy proves to be wrong, the explanation provided by the head of the group claims, "This was just a dress rehearsal for the real thing-testing your faith." This is

A) confirmation bias.
B) the vividness effect.
C) rationalization of disconfirmation.
D) All of the above

Question 14

You energetically seek information that agrees with your point of view when researching a group project and you ignore information that contradicts your point of view. You are exhibiting

A) confirmation bias.
B) invalid inferences.
C) correlation as causation fallacy.
D) false dichotomy.

Question 15

Group polarization can be avoided by

A) having at least one active devil's advocate in the group.
B) having a group facilitator who strongly encourages group members to consider opposing viewpoints on issues raised during group discussion.
C) discussing issues openly before group members take firm positions.
D) making frequent inferences.

Question 16

The group polarization effect can be explained by

A) social comparison theory.
B) persuasive argumentation.
C) excessive cohesiveness effect.
D) diffusion of responsibility hypothesis.

Question 17

Confirmation bias is the psychological predisposition to

A) ignore information that contradicts our beliefs.
B) distort information that confirms our beliefs.
C) seek information that agrees with our beliefs.
D) seek information that contradicts our beliefs.

Question 18

You can combat false dichotomies in your group by

A) employing the language of provisionalism (qualification).
B) seeking confirming information and evidence.
C) vigorously presenting disconfirming evidence to the group.
D) being suspicious of absolute statements.

Question 19

Which of the following is a valid statement about correlations?

A) Group members tend to have a strong inclination for inferring causation from correlations.
B) Most correlations are noncausal.
C) Vivid information makes correlations into causations.
D) Correlations link causal statements into dichotomies.

Question 20

Which of the following is a consequence of information overload?

A) It impedes critical thinking.
B) It promotes indecisiveness.
C) It makes concentration on any one idea, concept, or problem extremely difficult.
D) It diminishes creativity.

Question 21

Groups consistently take greater risks than do individuals.

Question 22

Group polarization is manifested when the points of view and opinions among a group's members become more divergent (differ from each other).

Question 23

We tend to overvalue vivid, concrete information when making decisions.

Question 24

Information underload is usually a problem of too much opening in a system.

Question 25

Faulty inferential leaps are more likely when the issues are emotionally charged.

Question 26

A glut of information makes it very difficult to ascertain useless from useful information.

Question 27

Pattern recognition is potentially the most effective means of coping with information overload.

Question 28

"A station KBNR call-in survey found that 66% of the 1,200 callers opposed raising property taxes to finance school budget deficits." This is an unrepresentative sample.

Question 29

Specialization is a pattern recognition means of screening information in order to cope with information overload.

Question 30

A false dichotomy is either-or thinking where we view the world in terms of opposites when clearly there are more than two opposing possibilities.

Question 31

A group has to display all the symptoms of groupthink in order to experience the poor-quality decisions that accompany groupthink.

Question 32

A consistent relationship between two variables is called a dichotomy.

Question 33

Groups should avoid the tendency to make inferences.

Question 34

Information overload occurs when the rate of information flow into a system exceeds the system's processing capacity.

Question 35

Making inferences is a serious problem for group decision making, so group members should be discouraged from making inferences.

Question 36

Advances in electronic technology have made a bias for speed; faster is not only possible but expected.

Question 37

A perceptual mindset is fundamentally a problem of information overload.

Question 38

Playing devil's advocate is one effective means of combating confirmation bias.

Question 39

All dichotomies are false.

Question 40

Because of the risky shift phenomenon, groups in all cultures tend to polarize toward risk rather than caution.

Question 41

Groupthink is a decision-making process in which members think deeply about potential errors that might produce faulty decision making.

Question 42

Groupthink can be most effectively addressed by discouraging dissent in a group so the group can get its work accomplished in an efficient manner.

Question 43

As communication technologies become ever more widespread and sophisticated, the problem of information overload should begin to diminish in importance.