Decision Making, 8th Edition Max H. Bazerman
Don A. Moore All 1-12 Chapters Covered,
Latest Edition
, Chapter 1 Introduction to Managerial Decision Making
Multiple choice
1) 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. Ans: c
Response: p. 2-3
2) 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. Ans: b
Response: p. 3
3) 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.
Ans: d Response: p. 4
, 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.
Ans: a
Response: p.
6
Questions 5-8 describe examples of heuristics outlined in the chapter. For each question, indicate
which heuristic it describes:
a. The representativeness heuristic.
b. The availability heuristic.
c. The confirmation heuristic.
d. The affect heuristic.
5) 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.
Ans: b
Response: p.
7-8
6) 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. Ans: a
Response: p. 8-9
, 7) 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. Ans: c
Response: p. 9-10
8) 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.
Ans: b
Response: p.
7-8
9) 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.
Ans: d
Response: p.
10
True/False
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.
Ans: False
Response: p.
11