Paper

ECS 392

Fall 2017

PAPER 1

(Details)

Date due: Monday, September 18 (by 10:00 pm , via Turnitin).

Length: 600 – 700 words. (We do not penalize for a few words over 700.)

Topic: First, in “Ethical Leadership and the Psychology of Decision Making” by Messick and Bazerman, review the descriptions of the following psychological tendencies (“blind spots”):

· Ignoring low-probability events

· Limiting the search for stakeholders

· Discounting the future

· Denying uncertainty

· Being influenced by risk framing

· Ethnocentric bias

· Stereotype bias

· Illusion of favorability

· Illusion of control

· Self-serving fairness biases

For your paper, select at least six of these tendencies to discuss.

Then, in your paper, please do the following. For each of the cognitive tendencies you have chosen:

1. Describe the tendency in your own words—in effect, providing your interpretation of the authors’ account of the mental blind spot (or trap).

2. Describe a case of poor or even disastrous ethical decision making in technology—by an individual, team, or company—where it is plausible to think that the decision makers were influenced by that cognitive tendency. For your example, you can use any source (except the “Ethical Leadership” article), including Inviting Disaster and our other texts, as well as other books and periodicals.

3. Explain why you think that cognitive tendency may have influenced the poor decision making—i.e., how your example fits your description of the tendency.

Be sure to cite your sources.