same way that we do
o
Ex: honest people tend to believe that those they interact with are honest as well.
If employees believe that they are honest and their supervisors are honest, then it
will be particularly difficult for them to believe that their actions in assisting those
supervisors are unethical
Cognitive Heuristics and Biases
(We are hardwired to make shortcut decisions)
When confronted with ethical dilemmas, people tend to use “moral heuristics”- moral shortcuts
or rules of thumb, that work well most of the time, but that also systematically misfire.
Overoptimism
o
Believe everyone/everything is good
o
In general, people tend to think that good things are more likely to happen to them
than to others and that bad things are less likely to happen to them than others

o
Some scientists think overoptimism is evolutionarily beneficial, but can lead to
systematic errors in decision making
o
Studies show that although they know the national divorce rate is around 50%,
newlyweds tend to rate their own chance of ever divorcing at 0%
Overconfidence
o
Exacerbated by overconfidence
o
Believe you won’t get caught
o
Overconfidence in one’s own ethical compass can lead people to accept their own
decisions without any serious moral reflection
o
A substantial majority of people believe erroneously (incorrectly) that they are
better than average drivers, more likely to afford a house than peers, and a more
accurate eyewitness than others. Also rate themselves above average in most
traits, including honesty.
o
Overconfident executives with unrealistic beliefs about their future performance
are more likely to commit financial reporting fraud than other executives
Self-serving bias
o
The tendency we have to gather information, process information, and even
remember information in such a manner as to advance our pre-existing views
o
External factors are to blame for my failures
o
Example: When A, B, and C are each asked how much credit they each deserve
for a group project, their allocations will typically add up to 140% rather than just
100%, because in each of their minds they were more responsible for the success
than the objective observer would likely have concluded
o
Confirmation bias- seeking out information that supports your beliefs and
ignoring evidence that contradicts
o
Belief persistence- the fact that people tend to persist in beliefs they hold long
after the basis for those beliefs is substantially discredited
o
Causal Attribution Theory- People have a tendency to attribute to themselves
more than average credit for their company’s or team’s successes and less than
average responsibility for its failures
Framing
o
In decision making, context counts
o
A simple reframing of a question can produce a totally different answer from the
same respondent
o
Example: People will more likely buy chips labeled 90% fat free than identical
chips labeled 10% fat
Challenger- when asked to reframe the decision as one of timing and


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- Spring '08
- BREDESON
- Law, Common Law, U.S. state, Trial court